<rr 


• 


ELIZABETH 


WITCH    WINNIE. 


.  OF  GALIF.  LIBRARY,  LOS  ANGELES 


WITCH  WINNIE 


THE  STORY  OF  A  "  KING'S  DAUGHTER 


BY 

ELIZABETH  W.  CHAMPNEY 


NEW   YORK 

DODD,    MEAD    &    COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS  » 


Copyright,  1889,  by 
WHITE    AND    ALLEN 

Copyright,  1891,  by 
DODD,    MEAD  &  COMPANY 


THE  BURR  PRINTING  HOUSE 
New  York 


DEDICATED    TO 

MY  LITTLE  WITCH  MARIE. 


WHERE  she's  been  the  sunshine  lingers, 
She's  my  witch  and  she's  my  mouse  ; 

She  has  helpful,  fairy  fingers, 
Busy  keeper  of  the  house. 

She  is  tricksy  and  she's  elfish  ; 

Sure  no  plague  could  e'er  be  worse  ; 
She  is  thoughtful  and  unselfish, 

She's  my  gentle  angel-nurse. 

All  their  jokes  the  brownies  lend  her, 
She's  a  merry,  mischief  thing  ; 

But  her  heart  is  very  tender — 
She's  a  Daughter  of  the  King. 

Yes,  there's  something  nice  about  her, 
And  I'll  love  her  till  my  death  ; 

No,  I  could  not  do  without  her — 
I'm  her  ma,  Elizabeth. 


2126285 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

INTRODUCTION, 9 

I.  BOARDING-SCHOOL  SCRAPES, II 

II.  GUINEVERE'S  GOWN, 30 

III.  THE  PRINCESS, 50 

IV.  COURT  LIFE, 63 

V.  LITTLE  PRINCE  DEL  PARADISO, 79 

VI.  MRS.    HETTERMAN    THROWS   LIGHT    ON    THE 

MYSTERY, 90 

VII.  WINNIE'S  CONFESSION, 109 

VIII.  THE    ELDER   BROTHER    AND    MRS.    HALSEY'S 

STRANGE  STORY, 123 

IX.  THE  KING'S  DAUGHTERS  AND  THE  VENETIAN 

FETE, 139 

X.  THE  LANDLORD  OF  RICKETT'S  COURT,  .     .     .162 

XI.  THE  GUESTS  OF  THE  ELDER  BROTHER,      .     .189 

XII.  WITH  THE  DYNAMITERS, 212 

XIII.  THE  KING'S  DAUGHTERS  IN  THE  COUNTRY,  .  225 

XIV.  OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY,    ....  246 
XV.  THE  ESTATES  DEL  PARADISO, 302 


INTRODUCTION. 


IT  is  but  just  to  explain  that,  while  all  of 
the  characters  introduced  in  this  little  story 
are  purely  imaginary,  the  founding  of  the 
Home  of  the  Elder  Brother  was  suggested 
by  the  work  of  some  real  children,  younger 
than  Madame's  pupils,  who  gave  a  little 
fair,  and,  helped  by  charitable  people,  in- 
stituted a  lovely  charity,  the  Messiah  Home 
for  Little  Children,  at  4  Rutherford  Place, 
New  York  City.  This  Home  still  opens  its 
doors  to  the  children  of  working-women, 
and  is  helped  by  different  circles  of  King's 
Daughters,  some  of  whom  have  adopted 
children  to  clothe.  It  is  a  beautiful  work, 
founded  by  children  for  children,  and  it  is 
hoped  that  others  all  over  the  land  will  join 
in  it,  and  that  the  work  may  broaden  until 
no  such  dens  as  Rickett's  Court  will  remain 
in  our  fair  city  or  country. 

E.  W.  C. 


WITCH  WINNIE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

BOARDING-SCHOOL    SCRAPES. 

»E  never  had  any 
until  Witch  Win- 
nie came  to  room 
in  our  corner. 
We  had  the  reputation 
of  being  the  best  behaved 
set  at  Madame's,  a  lit- 
tle bit  self-conscious  too, 
and  proud  of  our  pro- 
priety. Perhaps  this  was 
the  reason  that  we  were 
?'  nicknamed  the  "  Amen 
Corner,"  though  the  girls 
pretended  it  was  because  the  initials  of  our 
names,  spelled  downward,  like  an  acrostic — 


1 2  WITCH  WINNIE. 

Adelaide  Armstrong, 
Roseveldt, 
Jane  Anton, 
Aellie  Smith — 

formed  the  word  amen.  But  certainly  the 
name  would  not  have  clung  to  us  as  it  did 
if  the  other  girls  had  not  recognized  its  fit- 
ness in  our  forming  a  sanctimonious  little 
clique  who  echoed  Madame's  sentiments,  and 
were  real  Pharisees  in  minding  the  rules 
about  study -hours,  and  whispering,  and 
having  our  lights  out  in  time,  and  the  other 
lesser  matters  of  the  law  which  the  girls  in 
the  "  Hornets'  Nest,"  Witch  Winnie's  set, 
disregarded  with  impunity. 

And  verily  we  had  our  reward,  for  Mad- 
ame trusted  us,  and  gave  us  the  best  set  of 
rooms  in  the  great  stone  corner  tower,  over- 
looking the  park,  quite  away  from  the  espial 
of  the  corridor  teacher.  They  had  been 
intended  for  an  infirmary,  but  as  no  one  was 
ever  sick  at  Madame's,  she  grew  tired  of 
keeping  them  unoccupied,  and  assigned  them 
to  us. 

Sometimes  the  other  girls  annoyed  us  by 
making  calls  in  study-hours,  and  we  virtu- 
ously displayed  a  placard  on  our  door  bear- 
ing the  inscription,  "Particularly  Engaged." 


BOARDING-SCHOOL  SCRAPES.  13 

It  caught  Witch  Winnie's  eye,  as  she  strolled 
along  the  hall,  and  she  scribbled  beneath  it, 

"  The  girls  of  the  Amen  Corner 
Would  have  us  all  to  know 
That  they're  engaged,  each  one  engaged — 
Particularly  so."* 

We  hardly  knew  whether  to  be  amused  or 
vexed  at  this  sally  of  Witch  Winnie's.  We 
acknowledged  that  it  was  bright,  but  we 
deplored  her  wildness,  and  had  no  idea  how 
much  we  should  love  her  in  time  to  come. 
After  all,  our  reputation  as  model  pupils  had 
a  very  slender  foundation.  It  rested  chiefly 
on  Emma  Jane's  preternatural  conscientious- 
ness. The  night  that  the  cadet  band  sere- 
naded our  school,  some  of  the  pupils,  presum- 
ably the  girls  in  the  "Hornets'  Nest,"  threw 
out  bouquets  to  the  performers.  Rumor 
said  that  when  Madame  heard  of  this  she 
was  greatly  shocked. 

"  I  don't  see  how  she  can  punish  them  for 
it,"  said  Adelaide ;  "  there's  nothing  in  the 
rules  about  not  giving  flowers  to  young 
men.  Still,  it  was  a  dreadful  thing  to  do, 
and  Madame  is  ingenious  enough  to  twist 
the  rules  some  way,  so  as  to  '  make  the  pun- 

*This  incident  is  borrowed  from  an  actual  occurrence; 


14  WITCH  WINNIE. 

ishment  fit  the  crime.'  I  am  glad  the  Amen 
Corner  is  guiltless." 

Then  we  marched  into  chapel  on  tiptoe 
with  excitement  to  see  Madame  wreak  ven- 
geance on  the  wrong-doers.  Witch  Winnie 
sat  behind  me,  and  turning,  I  saw  that  she 
looked  pale,  but  resolute. 

Madame  rose  in  awful  dignity,  her  wiry 
curls,  which  Milly  said  reminded  her  of  spiral 
bed-springs,  bristled  ominously. 

"  Young  ladies,"  she  exclaimed,  in  a  sharp 
tone  of  command,  "  you  may  all  rise."  We 
rose. 

"If  you  turn  to  the  printed  rules  of  this 
institution,"  she  continued,  "  you  will  find 
under  Section  VII.  the  following  paragraph 
— '  Pupils  are  not  allowed  to  disfigure  the 
lawn  by  throwing  from  the  windows  any  bits 
of  paper,  hair,  apple-parings,  peanut  shells, 
or  waste  material  of  any  kind.  Scrap-bas- 
kets are  provided  for  the  reception  of  such 
matter,  and  any  pupil  throwing  anything 
from  her  window  upon  the  school  grounds 
will  be  regarded  as  having  committed  a  mis- 
demeanor.' ' 

An  impressive  silence  followed,  in  which 
Witch  Winnie  gave  a  sigh  of  relief,  and 
whispered  to  Cynthia  Vaughn,  "  We're  all 


BOARDING-SCHOOL  SCRAPES.  15 

right ;  we  didn't  disfigure  her  precious  lawn. 
The  bouquets  never  touched  the  ground.  I 
lowered  them,  with  a  string,  in  my  scrap-bas- 
ket (just  where  she  says  we  ought  to  have 
put  them),  and  the  drum-major  took  them 
out  and  distributed  them  to  the  other  boys." 

"  Young  ladies,"  Madame  continued,  in 
tones  of  triumph,  "  those  of  you  who  have 
not  broken  this  rule  within  the  past  week 
may  sit  down." 

We  all  sat  down — all  but  Emma  Jane  An- 
ton, who  remained  in  conspicuous  discom- 
fort. Adelaide  pulled  her  by  the  basque, 
"  Sit  down  !  "  she  whispered  ;  "  Madame 
doesn't  mean  you." 

Emma  Jane  stood  like  a  martyr  while 
Madame  regarded  her  through  her  lorgnette 
with  astonishment  depicted  on  every  feature. 

"  If  you  committed  this  infringement  of 
the  rules  at  any  time  other  than  last  evening 
you  may  sit  down." 

Emma  Jane  remained  standing. 

"  Then,"  said  Madame,  drawing  herself 
up  frigidly,  "  Miss  Anton,  you  may  explain: 
what  was  it  you  threw  out  ? " 

"Madame,"  replied  Emma  Jane,  "the 
window  was  open — we  were  listening  to  the 
music — and  a  bat  flew  in  ;  and,  Madame,  he 


1 6  WITCH  WINNIE. 

would  not  stay  in  the  waste-paper  basket, 
and  so,  Madame,  I  threw  him  out." 

Every  one  laughed  ;  discipline  was  forgot- 
ten for  the  moment,  until  Madame  rapped 
smartly  on  the  desk  and  called  for  order. 
She  complimented  Emma  Jane  highly  on 
her  conscientiousness,  but  she  looked  pro- 
voked with  her  all  the  same,  while  Witch 
Winnie,  who  was  stuffing  her  handkerchief 
into  her  mouth,  nearly  went  into  convulsions. 

After  the  sketch  which  I  have  endeavored 
to  give  of  Witch  Winnie,  and  the  position 
which  she  occupied  at  Madame's,  I  trust  that 
we,  as  self-respecting  pupils,  will  not  be  too 
severely  blamed  when  I  confess  that  we  re- 
ceived, with  great  disfavor,  Madame's  an- 
nouncement that  Winnie  was  henceforth  to 
room  in  the  Amen  Corner. 

The  bedrooms  at  Madame's  boarding- 
school  were  clustered  in  little  groups  around 
study-parlors,  five  girls  forming  a  family. 
For  a  long  time  there  had  been  only  four  in 
our  set.  Emma  Jane  Anton,  who  preferred 
to  room  alone,  had  the  little  single  bedroom  ; 
Adelaide  and  Milly  were  chums  ;  while  I, 
Nellie  Smith,  familiarly  nicknamed  Tib,  had 
luxuriated  so  long  in  the  large  corner  cham- 
ber that  I  had  almost  forgotten  that  Madame 


BOARDING-SCHOOL  SCRAPES.  17 

told  me,  at  the  outset,  that  I  must  hold  my- 
self in  readiness  to  receive  a  room-mate  at 
any  time. 

Adelaide  Armstrong  was  the  daughter  of 
a  railroad  magnate.  She  had  been  brought 
up  in  the  West,  but,  though  she  had  trav- 
eled much,  and  had  seen  a  great  deal  of 
society,  her  education  had  not  been  entirely 
neglected.  She  had  studied  a  great  deal 
in  a  desultory  way,  and  contested  the 
head  of  the  class  with  Emma  Jane  Anton, 
who  was  a  "regular  dig,"  and  had  prepared 
for  college  in  the  Boston  public  schools. 

It  was  really  surprising  how  Adelaide  had 
picked  up  so  much.  She  had  studied  Latin 
with  a  priest  in  New  Mexico,  and  had  prof- 
ited by  two  years  at  a  lonely  post  on  the 
confines  of  Canada,  where  her  father  had 
been  interested  in  the  fur  trade,  to  become 
proficient  in  French.  Strikingly  handsome, 
a  brunette  with  brilliant  complexion  and 
Andalusian  eyes,  energetic  and  spirited,  she 
was  popular  both  with  her  instructors  and 
her  classmates. 

Milly  Roseveldt  was  her  exact  contrast — a 
milky-complexioned  little  blonde,  shy  and 
sweet ;  she  was  also  a  trifle  dull.  Adelaide 
translated  her  Latin,  and  worked  out  her  prob- 


I  g  WITCH  WINNIE. 

lems,  and  I  wrote  her  compositions,  while 
Milly  rewarded  us  with  largesses  of  love  and 
confectionery,  for  she  was  the  most  gener- 
ous as  well  as  the  most  affectionate  of  girls. 
Her  father,  a  wealthy  New  York  banker, 
placed  large  sums  of  money  at  her  disposal, 
and  Milly  deluged  her  friends  with  gifts  of 
flowers  and  bonbons.  It  seemed  very  nat- 
ural to  me  that  Adelaide  and  Milly  should  be 
swrorn  friends  ;  but  my  admittance  into  the 
sacred  circle  was  a  mystery  to  me,  and  to  a 
number  of  aspiring  girls  who  asserted  that  I 
was  nobody  in  particular,  and  who  envied 
me  my  place"  in  my  friends'  affection.  My 
presence  in  the  school  itself  was  almost  as 
great  a  wonder.  My  father  was  a  Long 
Island  farmer.  We  opened  our  house  to 
city  boarders  during  the  summer,  and  one 
season  Miss  Sartoris,  the  teacher  in  Art  at 
Madame's,  boarded  with  us.  I  had  taken 
drawing  lessons  at  the  Academy,  and  Miss 
Sartoris  took  me  out  sketching  with  her.  I 
worked  like  a  beaver,  and  was  never  so 
happy  in  my  life.  I  delighted  Miss  Sartoris, 
who  wakened  mother's  ambition  by  telling 
her  that  I  was  the  most  talented  pupil  she 
had  ever  had.  More  than  this  :  wre  three  in- 
duced good,  easy-going,  generous  father  to 


BOARDING-SCHOOL  SCRAPES.  Ig 

let  me  go  back  to  the  city  with  Miss  Sartoris 
as  a  pupil  at  Madame's.  My  wardrobe  was 
meagre,  but  not  countrified,  for  I  possessed  a 
natural  sense  of  color  and  a  quick  faculty 
for  imitation.  I  had  seen  plenty  of  city 
people  at  Scup  Haven,  and  my  few  dresses, 
I  fancied,  would  pass  muster  anywhere.  I 
was  a  fair  scholar,  and  took  the  lead  in  the 
studio.  I  was  not  brilliant  and  stylish  like 
Adelaide,  or  rich  and  pretty  like  Milly,  but 
they  liked  me,  and  I  liked  myself  the  better 
for  the  consciousness  that  there  must  be 
something  nice  about  me  which  attracted 
them.  I  believe  now  that  it  was  an  absence 
of  self-consciousness  and  selfishness  on  my 
part,  and  my  hearty  admiration  and  devo- 
tion to  them.  Adelaide  called  me,  playfully, 
"the  great  American  Appreciator." 

It  was  just  before  the  theatricals  given  by 
our  literary  society  that  an  incident  occurred 
which  showed  me  how  much  they  really 
thought  of  me.  We  three  were  arranging 
the  stage  ;  I  was  touching  up  the  scenery, 
and  Milly  holding  the  tacks  for  Adelaide, 
who  was  looping  the  drapery,  when  we  over- 
heard the  conversation  of  a  group  of  girls 
on  the  other  side  of  the  curtain. 

Cynthia  Vaughn  was  the   first  to  speak. 


2Q  WITCH  WINNIE. 

"  I  think  Adelaide  Armstrong  is  perfectly 
splendidj  " 

"  So  do  I,"  said  another  ;  and  there  was  a 
chorus  of  confused  voices  exclaiming,  "  So 
stylish  !  "  "  Perfectly  elegant !  "  "  The  hand- 
somest girl  in  school  !  " 

Adelaide  left  her  work  and  placed  her 
hand  on  the  curtain,  but  Milly  threw  her 
arms  impulsively  around  her.  "  Let  us  hear 
what  they  will  say,"  she  whispered;  "when 
they  are  through  we  can  pull  the  cord,  and 
all  bow  thanks." 

By  this  time  other  voices  were  chanting 
Milly's  praises,  and  Adelaide  turned  reluc- 
tantly away,  remarking,  "  Well,  if  you  enjoy 
that  sort  of  thing,  you  are  welcome  to  it.  I 
should  not  be  surprised,  by  the  way  they  are 
loading  it  on,  if  they  knew  we  were  here." 

They  did  not  know  it,  for  at  that  instant 
Cynthia  Vaughn  spoke  up  again,  "I  don't 
see  what  they  find  to  admire  in  that  pokey 
Lib  Smith." 

"  I  should  think  Milly  would  be  ashamed 
to  be  seen  with  her,"  said  another  ;  "  her 
dresses  always  remind  me  of  a  chicken  with 
its  head  through  a  hole  in  a  salt-bag." 

Adelaide  sprang  forward  with  flashing 
eyes  to  confront  the  speaker,  but  this  time 


BOARDING-SCHOOL  SCRAPES.  21 

it  was  I  who  held  her  back.  "  Let  them  say 
their  say,"  I  whispered,  hoarsely,  while  Milly 
cowered,  trembling.  "  I  believe  her  mother 
makes  her  dresses  at  home,"  said  Witch 
Winnie  ;  "  and,  as  she  can't  have  Tib  to 
try  them  on,  she  fits  them  on  her  grand- 
father." 

There  was  a  hearty  laugh  at  this  sally,  and 
another  added:  "  I  don't  see  how  Adelaide 
can  endure  her,  she  is  so  stingy.  Have  you 
noticed  that  the  girls  place  a  fresh  bouquet 
at  her  plate  every  morning  ?  and  I  never 
could  find  out  that  she  ever  gave  either  of 
them  so  much  as  a  single  flower." 

Adelaide  nearly  writhed  herself  from  my 
grasp,  but  I  held  her  tightly.  "Milly,"  she 
gasped,  "  are  you  a  coward,  to  stand  there 
and  hear  our  friend  reviled  so  ?  Can't  you 
stop  them  ?" 

The  blood  surged  into  Milly's  pale  cheeks, 
and  she  sprang  before  the  curtain.  "  Girls," 
she  cried,  "  how  can  you  talk  so  ?  Nellie 
Smith  is  our  dearest  friend.  She  is  not  one 
bit  stingy  ;  she  gives  us  more  than  we  have 
ever  given  her.  Because  she  does  not  parade 
her  presents  on  the  breakfast-table  is  no 
reason  that  she  has  not  given  me  lots  and 
lots  of  things,  and  no  girl  can  consider  her- 


22  WITCH  WINNIE. 

self  my  friend  who  talks  so  about  our  dar- 
ling Tib." 

Here  Milly  broke  down  in  tears,  and 
Witch  Winnie  exclaimed,  "  Good  for  you, 
Milly  Roseveldt ;  I  didn't  know  you  had  so 
much  spunk  !"  But  at  this  point  we  all  fled 
to  the  Amen  Corner,  and  bolted  the  door, 
refusing  to  admit  Witch  Winnie,  who  im- 
pulsively shouted  her  apologies  through  the 
keyhole. 

"Oh,  Milly!"  I  cried,  "what  made  you 
tell  a  lie  for  me  ?  I  never  gave  you  a  thing." 
And  I  might  have  added,  "  How  could  I, 
when  my  allowance  for  spending-money  is 
hardly  sufficient  to  keep  me  in  slate-pencils  ?" 

But  Milly  stopped  my  mouth  with  kisses, 
and  pointed  to  sundry  original  works  of  art 
with  which  I  had  decorated  her  apartment, 
and  declared,  besides,  that  helping  her  on  that 
last  horrid  composition  was  a  greater  gift 
than  all  the  roses  in  Le  Moult's  greenhouse. 

So  we  of  the  Amen  Corner  disliked 
Witch  Winnie  and  loved  each  other,  all  but 
Emma  Jane  Anton.  We  could  not  be  said  to 
exactly  love  her  ;  we  tolerated  her  in  our 
midst,  in  spite  of  her  uncongenial  nature, 
because  we  took  pride  in  her  eminent  respect- 
ability, and  in  the  higher  average  of  reputa- 


BOARDING-SCHOOL  SCRAPES.  23 

tion  for  creditable  scholarship  and  exemplary 
behavior  which  she  gave  to  our  corner.  But 
love  her !  We  might  as  well  have  tried  to 
love  an  iceberg. 

Witch  Winnie  arrived  on  Adelaide's  birth- 
day, and  was  a  most  unwelcome  birthday 
present.  Emma  Jane  Anton  had  obtained 
permission  for  us  to  celebrate  the  occasion 
by  sitting  up  an  hour  later  that  evening. 
Milly  had  ordered  a  form  of  ice-cream 
and  a  birthday-cake  from  Mazetti's,  and 
we  had  invited  in  a  half-dozen  friends 
to  share  the  treat.  As  a  damper  on  this 
beautiful  fete,  Madame  had  called  us  into 
her  private  study  that  afternoon,  and  had 
told  us  that  she  had  decided  to  assign  Witch 
Winnie  as  my  room-mate.  She  did  not 
scruple  to  tell  us  her  reasons  for  doing  so. 
Winnie  (according  to  Madame)  was  the 
head-centre  of  a  wild  set  of  "  ne'er-do-weels  " 
who  roomed  in  the  top  of  the  house,  "  a  per- 
fect hornets'  nest  under  the  eaves,"  Madame 
said.  Madame  felt  that  if  the  queen  hornet 
was  taken  away,  the  rest  would  be  more 
amenable  to  discipline,  and  that  Winnie, 
placed  among  such  proper  and  well-behaved 
girls  as  we  were,  would  herself  feel  our 
beneficial  influence. 


24  WITCH  WINNIE. 

"  I  think,"  said  Madame,  "  that  if  you  knew 
Winnie's  history  you  would  understand  her 
better.  Her  parents  were  both  very  talented 
and  highly  imaginative  people.  Her  father 
is  a  playwright  of  reputation,  who  married  a 
very  lovely  young  actress  who  had  sustained 
the  leading  part  in  several  of  his  plays.  They 
were  tenderly  attached  to  each  other.  Mrs. 
De  Witt  had  great  dramatic  talent ;  she  made 
it  the  study  of  her  life  to  realize  his  concep- 
tions, and  succeeded  to  his  perfect  satisfac- 
tion. She  said  that  she  so  lived  in  her  part 
that  frequently  she  forgot  her  own  person- 
ality, while  Mr.  De  Witt  was  always  cudgeling 
his  brains  to  invent  new  plots,  situations,  and 
characters  for  his  wife.  Mrs.  De  Witt  died 
when  Winnie  was  but  three  years  of  age. 
The  child  has  lived  with  different  relatives, 
and  has  been  spoiled  and  neglected  by  turns, 
but  never  quite  understood.  I  have  studied 
her  carefully,  and  think  I  see  in  her  a  com- 
bination of  both  parents.  She  has  her  father's 
highly  organized  imaginative  nature,  but 
instead  of  constructing  plots  for  plays,  it 
develops  itself  in  plots  for  scrapes.  She  de- 
lights in  dramatic  situations,  and  is  a  natural 
and  unconscious  actress.  Her  father  hopes 
that  she  may  never  adopt  the  stage  as  her 


BOARDING-SCHOOL  SCRAPES.  25 

profession,  for  it  was  that  life  of  mental  and 
physical  strain  which  killed  Winnie's  mother. 
Something-  remarkable  in  organization  or  in 
action  the  girl  will  certainly  be,  and  as  she 
takes  her  color,  like  a  chameleon,  from  her 
surroundings,  or,  rather,  her  cue  from  the 
other  actors,  I  have  great  hopes  for  your  in- 
fluence over  her." 

Madame's  confidences  made  little  impres- 
sion upon  our  prejudice.  We  listened  in 
silence,  and,  returning  to  our  rooms,  held  an 
indignation  meeting,  in  which  Emma  Jane 
led.  Adelaide,  who  ought  to  have  sym- 
pathized with  the  neglected  orphan,  for  she 
had  lost  her  own  mother  when  a  little  girl, 
and  who  did  find  in  this  fact  a  bond  of 
fellow-feeling  later  on,  now  ignored  all  her 
claim  for  pity,  and  chose  to  feel  that  we  were 
all  grossly  insulted.  Milly  pitied  me  the  en- 
forced companionship,  several  of  us  were  in 
tears,  and  in  the  midst  of  it  all  Witch  Winnie 
appeared.  The  clatter  of  voices  sank  to  sud- 
den silence,  and  the  new-comer,  looking 
from  face  to  face,  instantly  understood  the 
situation. 

"  If  you  feel  half  as  badly  as  I  do,  girls," 
she  said,  with  a  merry  laugh,  "  I'm  sorry  for 
you ;  I  wouldn't  intrude  on  you  in  this  way 


26  WITCH  WINNIE. 

if  I  could  help  it.  Madame  tells  me  you  are 
to  have  a  spread  to-night,  and  have  invited 
your  particular  friends.  It's  too  bad  she 
wouldn't  let  me  put  off  moving  till  to-morrow 
morning.  I'll  tell  you  what  I'll  do — I'll  sit 
in  the  recitation-room  and  cram  for  examina- 
tion until  the  party  is  over.  Of  course  you 
don't  want  me,  a  perfect  stranger  to  your 
friends  ;  it  isn't  to  be  supposed  you  would." 

Emma  Jane  Anton  looked  relieved.  "  We 
provided  for  a  limited  number,"  she  explain- 
ed ;  "  if  we  had  known  that  we  were  to  have 
the  honor  of  your  company— 

But  Adelaide  interrupted  her  instantly. 
"  Sit  in  that  dismal  recitation-room  while  I 
am  having  my  birthday  party  !  Indeed  you 
shall  do  nothing  of  the  sort !"  while  Milly 
came  gallantly  to  the  rescue,  assuring  her 
that  she  had  ordered  more  ice-cream  than 
they  could  possibly  consume,  and  I  did  the 
best  I  could  to  make  Winnie  believe  that 
she  was  welcome. 

The  girls  appeared  en  masse  as  soon  as  the 
bell  struck  for  the  close  of  evening  study- 
hour — congratulations  were  offered  to  Ade- 
laide, and  Winnie  was  introduced.  All  made 
extravagant  efforts  to  be  gay  and  sociable, 
but  there  was  a  certain  constraint,  a  forced 


BOARDING-SCHOOL  SCRAPES.  2J 

quality,  in  it  all,  which  had  for  its  reason 
something  beyond  the  fact  of  an  unwelcome 
addition  to  the  Corner:  the  refreshments 
had  not  arrived.  Mazetti  had  forgotten  to 
send  them.  There  stood  the  study -table 
neatly  spread  with  a  table-cloth  borrowed 
from  the  steward's  department,  and  set  with 
saucers,  spoons,  and  plates,  all  disappoint- 
ingly empty. 

Adelaide  tried  to  carry  off  the  situation  as 
an  immense  joke.  Milly  alternated  between 
hope  and  despair,  fancying  each  noise  of 
wheels  the  confectioner's  cart.  The  guests 
showed  their  disappointment  plainly,  some 
confessing  that  they  had  slighted  the  evening 
prunes  and  rice  in  anticipation  of  this  treat. 
And  I  heard  Cynthia  Vaughn  whisper  that 
it  was  a  very  cheap  way  to  give  a  party — to 
pretend  that  there  had  been  a  mistake.  At 
this  juncture  I  suddenly  noticed  that  Witch 
Winnie  had  disappeared. 

A  few  moments  later  a  loud  knocking,  or 
kicking,  for  it  was  evidently  bestowed  with 
feet  instead  of  hands,  was  heard  at  the  door. 
"  Let  me  in,  girls  ! "  cried  Witch  Winnie's 
voice — "  let  me  in,  quick !  before  Madame 
catches  me."  We  opened  the  door,  and 
Witch  Winnie  burst  in,  and  sat  laughing  on 


28  WITCH  WINNIE. 

the  floor  ;  from  her  dress,  which  had  been 
gathered  up  in  her  hands,  and  had  served  as 
a  market-basket,  rolled  a  quantity  of  paper 
bags  and  parcels — lemons,  bottles  of  olives, 
sugar,  mixed  pickles,  crackers,  sardines, 
macaroons,  nuts,  raisins,  candy,  etc.,  etc. 

"  Help  yourselves,  girls,"  she  chuckled. 
"  We'll  have  the  spread,  after  all."  I  have 
been  around  the  corner  and  bought  out  Mr. 
Beeny's  little  grocery."  Then  broke  in  a 
chorus  of  voices — 

"  How  did  you  ever  get  out  of  the  house  ?  " 

"  Was  Cerberus  asleep  ?  "  (Cerberus  was 
our  nickname  for  the  janitor.) 

"  How  very  sweet  of  you  ! " 

"  But  how  extravagant !  " 

"  O  girls!  these  pickled  limes  are  too  lovely 
for  anything. 

Adelaide  appeared  with  her  ewer.  "I'll 
make  the  lemonade,"  she  said,  and  began 
rolling  the  lemons  with  Milly's  curling-stick, 
while  Emma  Jane  Anton  manipulated  the 
can-opener  with  energy  and  success.  Each 
girl  flew  to  her  room  for  her  tooth-mug,  and 
we  drank  Witch  Winnie's  health  in  brimming 
bumpers  of  lemonade. 

"How  did  you  ever  manage  it?"  Milly 
asked  again. 


BOARDING-SCHOOL  SCRAPES.  29 

"  I  climbed  down  the  fire-escape."  Witch 
Winnie  giggled. 

"  But  you  had  to  drop  twelve  feet  onto 
the  sidewalk  !" 

"  What  of  that  ?  I've  done  it  in  the  gym- 
nasium from  the  trapeze  many  a  time." 

"  But  you  never  came  back  that  way  ?  " 

"  Hardly.  I  rang  the  basement  bell,  and 
when  Cerberus  said  he'd  tell  Madame,  I  made 
him  a  present  of  three  packages  of  cigarettes 
and  some  Limburger  cheese,  and  I  am  quite 
certain  that  he  will  never  say  a  word." 

Witch  Winnie's  generosity  and  good-fel- 
lowship had  won  the  day.  From  that 
moment  we  took  her  into  our  hearts. 

The  ice-cream  which  Milly  had  ordered 
arrived  the  next  day,  but  we  were  all  too  ill 
to  touch  it ;  we  had  feasted  without  restraint 
on  our  new  chum's  bountiful  but  somewhat 
heterogeneous  repast,  and  were  paying  the 
penalty  with  rousing  headaches,  but  in  our 
fiercest  pangs  we  were  still  ready  to  declare 
that  if  there  ever  was  a  trump  it  was  Witch 
Winnie. 


CHAPTER  II. 

GUINEVERE'S  GOWN. 

RISTOCRATIC 
Adelaide  was  now 
as  deeply  attached 
to  "that  little  witch" 
Winnie  as  she  had  been 
prejudiced  against  her, 
and  Winnie,  who  had 
hitherto  spoken  of  her  new 
friend  as  "  that  stuck-up 
Armstrong  girl,"  was  now 
her  devoted  admirer. 

Although  this  state  of 
affairs  was  perfectly  agree- 
able to  the  Amen  Corner,  it  was  not  equally 
so  to  the  Hornets.  They  had  endured  Win- 
nie's removal  as  a  piece  of  Madame's  tyranny, 
had  looked  upon  their  Queen  as  a  martyr, 
and  had  taken  it  for  granted  that  we  would 
make  things  extremely  uncomfortable  for 

her.      They    perceived,  with    astonishment, 

30 


GUINEVERE 'S  GOWN.  31 

that  we  welcomed  her  heartily,  and  when  it 
dawned  upon  them  by  degrees  that  Winnie 
was  herself  happy  in  the  change,  that  she 
actually  promenaded  in  the  corridor  with  an 
arm  lovingly  twined  about  the  waist  of  that 
odious  Tib  Smith,  that  the  placard  "  En- 
gaged "  appeared  as  frequently  on  the  outer 
door  of  the  Amen  Corner,  and  that  Winnie's 
lessons  and  behavior  improved  so  much  that 
she  was  actually  becoming  a  favorite  with 
the  teachers  instead  of  their  special  torment 
— the  indignation  of  the  Hornets'  Nest  knew 
no  bounds. 

It  showed  itself  in  a  practical  joke  origi- 
nated by  Cynthia,  which  might  have  been 
very  amusing  had  it  not  been  spiced  with 
malice.  I  have  spoken  of  our  literary  society 
and  its  projected  entertainment.  We  were 
to  have  a  series  of  tableaux;  among  others, 
Guinevere  kneeling  before  an  altar.  Milly 
had  been  chosen  to  represent  Guinevere  on 
account  of  her  beautiful  hair,  and  because 
she  spent  her  Saturdays  and  Sundays  at 
home,  and  could  have  any  costume  arranged 
for  herself.  What  was  our  disappointment, 
one  Monday  morning,  to  receive  a  note  from 
Milly  saying  that  she  would  not  be  able  to 
take  part  in  the  entertainment,  as  her  mother 


32  WITCH  WINNIE. 

was  going  to  Washington  for  a  fortnight, 
and  had  decided  that,  as  Milly  looked  pale,  a 
little  outing  would  do  her  good.  This  note 
was  read  to  the  literary  society  amid  groans 
from  the  members.  "  We  can't  give  up  that 
tableau."  "  Adelaide,  you  take  the  part." 
"  Can't  ;  my  hair  is  as  black  as  a  crow's  wing. 
Tib's  hair  is  lovely  when  it  is  down.  It  falls 
to  her  knees,  and  it  has  the  sheen  of  molten 
gold.  Girls,  you  must  see  it,"  and  Adelaide 
proceeded  to  pull  my  braids  apart  ;  I  pro- 
testing all  the  time  that  it  was  absurd  to 
have  a  freckled  Guinevere  who  was  as  home- 
ly as  a  hedge  fence. 

"  Granted,"  replied  Witch  Winnie,  "  but 
nobody  is  going  to  see  your  face,  child  ;  you 
pose  with  your  back  to  the  audience,  and  as 
none  of  the  girls  know  what  regal  hair  you 
have,  it  will  be  such  fun  to  have  them  guess 
who  it  is." 

All  of  the  other  girls  joined  in  persuading 
me,  excepting  one  of  the  Hornets,  who  lifted 
her  voice  in  favor  of  Cynthia  Vaughn. 

"But,  girls,  what  am  I  to  do  for  a  cos- 
tume ?  " 

"  Why  didn't  Milly  think  to  send  hers 
along?"  said  Adelaide.  "  We  might  write 
her." 


GUINEVERE'1 S  GOWN,  33 

"  No,  there's  no  time  ;  she  leaves  this  morn- 
ing" on  the  '  limited.' " 

"  If  you  would  like,  I'll  take  the  part," 
Cynthia  Vaughn  suggested.  "  I've  all  that 
canton  flannel  ermine,  and  the  ruff  made 
out  of  the  old  window  curtains,  which  I 
wore  when  I  was  Queen  Elizabeth." 

"That  ruff  would  be  a  frightful  anachro- 
nism," said  Emma  Jane  Anton. 

"  And  the  ermine  has  served  three  times 
already.  Thank  you,  we'll  manage  some- 
how," Witch  Winnie  asserted,  confidently. 

We  retired  to  the  Amen  Corner  to  talk  it 
over.  "  If  worse  comes  to  worst,"  said 
Witch  Winnie,  "  I  know  I  can  make  a  mag- 
nificent train  out  of  the  plush  table-cloth 
in  Madame's  library."  • 

"  But  how  will  you  ever  get  it  ?  "  , 

"  Emma  Jane  must  ask  her  to  lend  it  to 
us  ;  she'll  do  anything  for  Emma  Jane." 

"  Emma  Jane  declines  to  act  in  this 
emergency,"  said  Miss  Anton,  firmly. 

"  You  wouldn't  be  so  mean  !" 

"  But  I  would  ;  Adelaide,  please  read  Mil- 
ly's  letter  again;  I  didn't  half  hear  it." 

"  I  must  have  dropped  it  in  the  Society 
hall;  I  will  get  it  after  dinner.  If  she  had 
thought  that  Tib  might  be  chosen  to  take 


34  WITCH  WINNIE. 

her  place,  she  would  have  done  anything-  for 
the  honor  of  the  Amen  Corner." 

Here  some  one  tapped  at  the  door,  and 
announced,  "  A  letter  for  Miss  Armstrong." 

"It's  from  Milly !  "exclaimed  Adelaide. 
"  and  it  looks  as  if  it  had  been  opened,  and 
pasted  up  again." 

"  I  thought  Madame  boasted  that  she 
never  submitted  her  young  ladies  to  that 
sort  of  espionage,"  said  Witch  Winnie. 

"  Girls,  girls  ! "  Adelaide  fairly  shrieked  ; 
"just  listen  to  this  !  Milly  writes — 

"  '  I  forgot  to  say  in  my  last  that  mamma's 
maid  is  putting  the  finishing  touches  to  my 
costume,  and  Gibson  will  bring  it  around 
to-morrow.  The  dress  (purple  velvet)  is 
one  which  mamma  wore  last  summer  when 
she  was  presented  to  the  Queen.  The  lace 
which  trims  it  was  made  to  order  from  a 
pattern  of  her  own  selection  in  Brussels. 
You  may  keep  the  crown,  for  the  gems  in  it 
are  only  Rhinestones.  Aunt  Fanny  wore  it 
at  a  costume  ball,  and  they  sparkle  like  the 
real  thing.  Be  careful  of  the  lace,  for 
mamma  prizes  it  highly. 

'  Yours,  Milly. 

'  P.  S. — I've  coaxed  papa  to  lend  you  a 
silver  chatelaine,  old  French  repousse,  linked 
with  emeralds,  which  he  keeps  in  his  cabinet 


GUINEVERE'S  GOWN.  35 

of    curiosities.     It  shows  finely  against  the 
velvet.' " 


How  we  all  exclaimed  and  chattered ! 
"Now  what  will  the  Hornets' Nest  say  to 
that?" 

"  Canton  flannel  ermine  indeed  !  " 

"  I  should  like  to  see  them  bring"  on  their 
old  mosquito-netting  ruff  !  " 

"  Real  emeralds  !  A  diadem  flashing  with 
diamonds  !" 

"  Don't  tell  them  a  word  about  it  until 
Tib  dawns  on  them  in  all  her  glory  on 
Wednesday  night." 

It  was  hard  to  keep  this  resolution,  but  we 
did.  The  Hornets  were  giggling  and 
whispering  among  themselves  as  we 
marched  in  to  dinner,  with  all  the  importance 
given  by  the  possession  of  a  state  secret. 
The  other  girls  relapsed  into  silence  as  we 
took  our  seats,  and  watched  us  with  strange, 
significant  looks. 

"  I've  been  looking  up  the  matter  in 
Racinet's  work  on  Costume,"  remarked  Cyn- 
thia Vaughn,  "and  I  find  you  were  right, 
Miss  Anton  ;  ruffs  did  not  come  in  until  long 
after  Arthur's  reign." 

"  I  would  like  to  consult  the  book,"  Emma 


:>6  WITCH  WINNIE. 

\j 

Jane  replied,  "  unless  you  can  tell  me  whether 
chatelaines  were  worn  at  that  period." 

Here  a  small  Hornet  was  seized  with 
strangulation,  and  had  to  be  vigorously 
thumped  upon  the  back  by  her  friends. 

"  Oh,  I  think  so,"  Cynthia  replied,  sweet- 
ly, disregarding  her  friend's  condition. 
"  Wouldn't  it  be  sweet  to  have  Guinevere 
wear  one  ?  Miss  Smith  is  so  artistic,  I'm  sure 
she  could  cut  one  out  of  gilt  paper." 

Adelaide  scouted  the  idea.  "  Whatever 
we  get  up  for  that  costume,"  she  said,  "  I  am 
determined  shall  be  real,  no  imitation  chate- 
laines, or  anything  else." 

Cynthia  lifted  her  eyebrows.  "  Perhaps 
you  will  secure  one  of  Queen  Victoria's  court 
robes?"  she  remarked,  icily. 

It  was  on  Adelaide's  lips  to  reply  that  we 
might  have  a  robe  which  had  figured  at  a 
court  reception  of  the  English  Queen,  but 
she  felt  Witch  Winnie's  foot  upon  hers,  and 
replied  that  in  undertaking  this  tableau  the 
Amen  Corner  felt  confident  that  they  could 
carry  it  through  creditably,  and  we  therefore 
begged  to  be  excused  from  the  dress 
rehearsal  that  afternoon.  We  left  the  dining- 
room  in  a  body,  and  the  Hornets  laughed 
aloud  before  we  closed  the  door.  '"They 


GUINEVERE'S  GOWN.  37 

laugh  best  who  laugh  last,'  "  said  Witch  Win- 
nie. "Won't  those  girls  fairly  expire  when 
they  see  Tib  in  her  grand  role  !" 

Tuesday  was  a  long  and  weary  day  for  us. 
We  started  at  every  knock,  expecting  a  sum- 
mons to  the  janitor's  room  to  receive  a  pack- 
age, but  none  came.  We  retired  much  dis- 

&      * 

appointed  ;  and  we  held  a  council  of  war 
before  breakfast.  The  Roseveidts'  butler 
had  evidently  proved  false  to  his  trust,  and 
the  costume  was  waiting  for  us  at  the  family 
mansion  on  Fifth  Avenue. 

"  I  will  ask  Madame  at  breakfast  to  excuse 
me  from  my  morning  lessons  to  do  an  irnpor- 
tant  errand,"  said  Witch  Winnie  ;  "  I  will  tell 
her  the  entire  story,  and  I  know  that,  rather 
than  disappoint  us  all,  she  will  let  us  go  to 
the  Roseveidts'  for  the  things." 

Madame  proved  to  be  in  good-humor,  and 
on  reading  Milly's  letter  readily  gave  Win- 
nie and  me  the  desired  permission,  sending 
for  a  hansom  to  take  us  to  our  destination. 
All  of  the  Hornets  at  the  lower  end  of  the 
table  heard  this  conversation,  and  Adelaide 
thought  that  Cynthia  Vaughn  turned  green 
with  envy.  An  hour  later,  as  we  came  down 
the  front  stairs  to  take  our  hansom,  Cerberus 
popped  his  head  from  his  office  to  te^J  us 


58  WITCH  WINNIE. 

that  a  package  had  just  been  received  for 
Miss  Adelaide  Armstrong.  "  Come  back, 
girls!"  Adelaide  cried  excitedly  ;  "here  is 
the  costume.  It  can  be  nothing  else.  My, 
what  a  big  bundle  ! " 

We  carried  it  between  us  in  triumph  up 
the  staircase.  The  Hornets  were  clustered 
on  the  very  top  landing  ;  their  faces  peered 
over  the  balustrade,  and  as  they  caught  sight 
of  our  procession  a  peal  of  derisive  laughter 
echoed  through  the  hall  as  they  scuttled 
away  to  their  nest  under  the  eaves. 

"  Those  Hornets  have  certainly  gone 
crazy,"  Emma  Jane  remarked,  practically. 
She  was  carrying  her  corner  of  the  package, 
and  was  as  interested  as  the  rest  of  us  in  the 
arrival  of  the  costume.  We  entered  our 
study-parlor  in  suppressed  excitement,  and 
impatiently  cut  the  knots,  and  tore  open  the 
wrappings,  when,  behold  !  another  package, 
scrupulously  tied.  This  paper  removed  re- 
vealed another,  then  another,  and  another, 
and  the  fact  slowly  dawned  upon  us  that  we 
had  been  victimized.  "  Girls  !  "  exclaimed 
Witch  Winnie,  sitting  down  on  the  floor  in 
despair,  "  it's  a  wicked  sell  of  those  Hornets: 
there  is  nothing  here." 

Emma  Jane  Anton   kept  on  methodically 


GUINEVEXE'S  GOWN.  39 

removing  the  wrappers  and  folding  them 
neatly.  "Perhaps,"  suggested  Adelaide, 
"  they  have  merely  arranged  this  hoax  to 
fool  us,  and  the  costume  is  still  at  the  Rose- 
veldts'." 

"  It's  just  like  that  Cynthia  Vaughn  to  do 
such  a  thing  ;  we'll  go,  all  the  same,"  Witch 
Winnie  replied,  rising  hopefully  and  tying 
on  her  veil.  At  this  juncture  Emma  Jane 
reached  a  pasteboard  box  marked  "  Violet 
velvet  court  dress."  Lifting  the  lid  discov- 
ered a  quantity  of  trash.  An  empty  sardine- 
box  bore  the  label  "  Diamond  Crown  ; 3)  a 
dilapidated  bustle  was  marked  "  Brussels 
point  lace  ; "  a  mixed-pickle  bottle  was  filled 
with  apple-parings  and  labeled  "  Old  re- 
pousse chatelaine,  reign  of  Arthur  I.;  the 
real  article  ;  must  be  returned." 

A  howl  of  mingled  laughter  and  dismay 
rose  from  our  corner.  "  Cynthia  Vaughn 
wrote  that  letter  which  purported  to  be 
from  Milly.  Well,  it's  a  real  good  prac- 
tical joke,  anyway,"  said  Witch  Winnie ; 
"better  than  I  thought  the  Hornets  could  get 
up  without  my  help.  Let  us  show  them  that 
we  can  take  a  joke,  and  good-naturedly 
acknowledge  ourselves  sold." 

"  And  in  the  mean  time  what  am   I  to  do 


40  WITC/f  WINNIE. 

for  a  costume  ?  You  know  the  tableaux 
come  off  to-night." 

"  That  puts  another  face  on  the  matter." 

'  I  suppose  Cynthia  would  be  only  too  glad 
to  take  the  part  even  now." 

"  After  all  we  have  said,  and  your  name 
printed  on  the  programme — never  !  "  This 
from  Adelaide. 

"  I'll  tell  you  what  we  will  do,"  suggested 
Winnie  ;  "  the  hansom  is  still  waiting  at  the 
door  ;  Tib  and  I  will  drive  to  a  costumer's 
and  hire  something.  I  found  the  address  of 
a  place  on  the  Bowery  the  other  day  and 
fortunately  saved  it.  Hold  your  heads  up 
high;  we  will  not  acknowledge  ourselves 
defeated  yet." 

As  Witch  Winnie  and  I  sped  out  of  the 
quiet  square  and  down  the  great  teeming 
thoroughfare,  the  Elevated  .trains  jarring 
overhead  and  the  motley  crowd  surging 
about  us,  a  misgiving  of  conscience  swept 
over  me.  What  would  Madame  say  ?  This 
was  not  what  we  had  obtained  permission 
to  do.  This  was  very  different  from  Fifth 
Avenue,  and  not  at  all  a  quarter  of  the  city 
in  which  young  ladies  should  be  wandering 
without  chaperons. 

We  were  quite  desperate,  however,  and  it 


GUINEVERE'S  GOWN.  41 

seemed  too  late  to  turn  back.  The  hansom 
stopped  before  a  Hebrew  misfit  clothing 
store  where  dress  suits  were  announced  as 
on  hire  by  the  evening.  Flaunting  placards 
above  told  that  costumes  for  the  theatrical 
profession  and  for  fancy  balls'  were  to  be 
let  in  the  fourth  story.  We  climbed  a  dirty 
staircase,  and  after  knocking  by  mistake  at  an 
intelligence  office  for  Dienst  Made  hen,  a  hair- 
dyeing  and  complexion-enameling  rooms, 
a  chiropodist's,  and  a  clairvoyant's,  we  found 
ourselves  in  a  room  piled  from  floor  to  ceil- 
ing with  costumes.  A  fat  German,  who 
looked  as  if  he  were  some  second  -  hand 
piece  of  furniture,  very  much  soiled  as  to 
his  linen,  and  the  worse  for  wear  as  to  his 
physical  mechanism,  admitted  us  and  did 
the  honors  of  the  establishment.  I  glanced 
around  at  the  motley  objects  which  filled 
the  wareroom ;  gaudy  spangled  dresses, 
with  a  sprinkle  of  saw-dust  (suggestive  of 
the  arena)  clinging  to  the  worn  cotton  vel- 
vet, many-ruffled  shockingly  brief  skirts  of 
rose-colored  gauze  that  had  spun  like  so 
many  teetotums  behind  flaring  foot-lights, 
tinfoil  suits  of  armor  that  had  come  in  all 
mud-besplashed  from-  parading  the  streets 
at  the  last  grand  procession,  the  faded  ban- 


4$  WITCH  WINNI&. 

ners  which  flapped  above  them  so  jauntily, 
drooping  wearily  now  from  the  rafters, 
covered  with  dust  and  festooned  by  the 
spiders.  A  row  of  dominoes  dependent 
from  a  neighboring  clothes-line  rustled  with 
an  air  of  mystery,  and  a  heap  of  masks  upon 
the  floor  seemed  to  leer  and  wink  from  their 
eyeless  windows. 

"  I  am  afraid,"  said  Winnie,  drawing  near- 
er the  door,  "  that  you  haven't  anything  so 
nice  as  I  want." 

"  I  haf  effery  dings,  effery  dings,"  replied 
the  ponderous  costumer  ;  "  you  don't  t'ink  I 
keeps  dose  fine  procade  for  the  costume  ball 
out  here  in  te  tust,  ain't  it  ?  " 

"  I  wanted  something  for  a  school  enter- 
tainment," Winnie  explained. 

"  So,  so_;  I  haf  effery  dings,  I  tole  you,  for 
de  school.  Ya,  from  dose  Kindergarten  to 
dot  universities.  Dings  for  little  peebles 
and  dings  for  big  peebles." 

"  I  should  like  to  know  what  kind  of  big 
people  patronize  your  establishment  ?  " 

"  Sometimes  dose  ladies  who  make  de 
church  fair.  I  have  some  angel  wing  for  de 
Christmas  mystery,  de  mask  for  de  Muzzer 
Goose  pantomine.  Sometimes  dose  fine 
ladies  dey  make  some  peesness  mit  me. 


GUINEVERE'S  GOWN.  43 

When  de  shentlemen  step  on  dose  trail  or 
spill  coffee  on  dot  tablier,  den  I  buys  dot 
dress,  and  my  designer  she  make  it  all  new 
again.  I  haf  one  ferry  nice  designer  ;  she 
haf  many  times  arrange  ze  historical  costume 
for  dose  grand  painting  what  make  ze 
artists." 

"  Then  I  think  I  would  like  to  talk  with 
her,"  said  Winnie. 

"  Ya,  ya,  dat  vas  right.  Here,  Mrs.  Hal- 
sey,  Mrs.  Halsey !  Perhaps  you  petter  go 
in  de  sewing-room,  ain't  it  ?  " 

He  opened  the  door  into  a  back  room 
where  a  sweet  pale-faced  woman  sat  sewing 
little  bells  on  a  jester's  cap. 

We  were  struck  from  the  outset  with 
Mrs.  Halsey's  refined  appearance,  and  we 
were  not  surprised  when  she  showed,  by  her 
complete  understanding  of  what  we  required, 
that  she  had  read  Tennyson  and  had  some 
idea  of  historical  periods  in  costume.  She 
drew  a  purple  velvet  robe  from  a  great 
bundle.  I  exclaimed  in  disapproval  as  I 
noticed  a  horrid  crimson  border. 

"  But  this  is  coming  off,"  said  the  little 
woman,  using  her  scissors  briskly,  "  and  in- 
stead, I  will  stitch  some  gold  braid  applique 
in  a  lily  design.  See,  how  do  you  like  this 


44  WITCH  WINNIE. 

effect?"  and  her  deft  fingers  flew,  coiling-  and 
twisting  the  gilt  braid  until  a  really  regal 
combination  was  produced. 

"Then  we  will  have  it  open  at  the  side  to 
show  a  white  satin  petticoat,  also  laced  with 
gold,  and  the  sleeves  can  be  puffed  and 
slashed  with  white  satin.  I  arranged  a  cos- 
tume like  that  for  Mary  Anderson." 

"  Is  it  possible  that  such  a  noted  and  suc- 
cessful actress  gets  her  costumes  at  a  place 
like  this  ?"  asked  Witch  Winnie. 

"  Oh,  no,"  replied  Mrs.  Halsey,  with  a 
sigh;  "  when  I  made  Miss  Anderson's  dresses 
I  was  designer  for  Madame  Celeste's  estab- 
lishment. I  should  be  there  now  if  it  were 
not  for  Jim." 

She  was  fitting  the  dress  tome,  and  as  this 
would  'take  several  minutes,  Winnie  asked, 

"  Who  is  Jim  ?" 

"  Jim  is  my  son  ;  he  is  twelve  years  old, 
and  the  brightest  little  fellow,  for  his  age,  you 
ever  saw.  He  leads  his  classes  at  the  public 
school,  has  a  record  of  100  in  mathematics, 
for  all  that  he  has  such  a  poor  chance  at  pre- 
paring his  lessons." 

"  How  does  that  happen  ?"  It  was  I  who 
inquired  this  time. 

"  Jim  is  an  ambitious  boy;  ambitious   to 


GUINEVERE'S  GOWN.  45 

help  me  as  well  as  to  keep  a  place  in  his 
class,  and  a  milkman  pays  him  a  dollar  a 
week  for  driving  his  cart  over  to  Jersey  City 
to  meet  the  milk  train  and  fill  his  cans  for 
him  every  morning-." 

"  That  is  very  nice." 

"  If  it  did  not  break  so  cruelly  into  the 
poor  boy's  hours  for  sleep.  In  order  to  dress 
and  snatch  a  bite  before  he  goes  down  to 
the  stable  and  harnesses,  he  has  to  rise  at 
3  o'clock.  This  enables  the  milkman  to 
sleep  until  Jim  arrives  with  the  milk  at  6 
o'clock,  in  time  to  begin  the  morning  rounds. 
I  make  the  boy  take  an  hour's  sleep  after 
this,  but  it  is  not  enough." 

"  He  ought  to  go  to  bed  very  early." 

"  Yes,  but  the  lessons ;  when  are  they  to 
be  learned  ?  He  shouts  them  out  in  his 
sleep.  '  If  I  gain  seven  hundred  dollars  from 
a  rise  of  2%  per  cent,  in  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road stock,  what  was  my  original  invest- 
ment ?'  He  has  his  father's  quickness  for 
figures.  Bless  his  heart !  he  never  had  any 
money  to  invest  in  railroad  stocks,  and  by 
heaven's  help  he  never  will." 

"  I  am  not  so  sure  about  that,"  said  Witch 
Winnie.  "  How  did  it  happen  that  you  lost 
your  position  at  Madame  Celeste's  on  account 


46  WITCH  WINNIE. 

of  Jim  ?"  She  had  finished  the  fitting-  and 
was  removing  the  pins  from  her  mouth,  but 
Winnie  drew  on  her  gloves  very  slowly  ;  we 
were  both  interested. 

"  Madame  kept  me  for  such  late  hours 
that  I  did  not  reach  home  until  Jim  was 
asleep,  and  at  last  she  proposed  to  raise  my 
salary,  but  said  that  I  must  sleep  in  the 
establishment,  so  as  to  be  on  hand  to  open 
early  in  the  morning.  This  was  after  Mad- 
ame's'very  successful  winter,when  she  bought 
a  house  out  of  town,  and  did  not  find  it  con- 
venient to  come  in  until  late  in  the  day.  I 
told  her  that  I  would  accept  her  offer  if  Jim 
could  be  with  me  ;  but  there  was  no  room 
for  him,  and  we  thought  it  best  to  stick  to- 
gether. I  get  through  here  at  6  o'clock,  and 
can  cook  Jim's  dinner.  But  it's  hard  for  the 
boy.  If  I  could  only  afford  to  let  him  have 
his  entire  time  for  his  study — but  his  dollar  a 
week  half  pays  our  rent." 

"  Wouldn't  it  have  been  better  for  you 
both  if  you  had  remained  at  Madame 
Celeste's,  and  had  sent  Jim  to  boarding- 
school  ?  There  are  such  nice  cadet  schools 
up  the  Hudson." 

A  faint  smile  overspread  the  woman's  face. 
"  Madame  always  insisted  that  her  employees 


GUINEVERE'S  GOWN.  47 

should  dress  well.  I  know  exactly  what  it 
cost  me.  It  would  have  left  just  a  dollar  and 
a  half  a  week  for  Jim.  Do  you  know  of  any 
boarding-school  that  would  have  taken  him 
at  those  rates  ?" 

Winnie  sorrowfully  confessed  that  she  did 
not,  and  we  reluctantly  took  our  leave,  Mrs. 
Halsey  promising  to  finish  the  costume  im- 
mediately, and  to  send  it  by  Jim  in  ample 
time  for  the  evening's  performances. 

Our  escapade  lay  heavily  upon  my  con- 
science in  spite  of  our  success  in  obtaining 
the  costume,  but  I  felt  still  more  troubled 
for  poor  Mrs.  Halsey  and  her  overworked 
boy.  "  I  wonder,"  I  said  to  Winnie,  "  if 
Madame  could  not  make  him  useful  here  at 
the  school,  and  let  him  work  for  his  board, 
tend  furnace  and  run  errands." 

"You  could  not  tell  her  about  him  without 
confessing  our  lark,  and  don't  you  do  that 
for  the  world!" 

"No,"  I  promised,  against  my  will,  "of 
course  not,  unless  you  consent ;  the  secret  is 
half  yours,  but  I  really  think  it  would  be  the 
best  way." 

Adelaide  was  greatly  interested  in  our 
report.  "  I  am  to  have  my  violin  dress  for 
the  concert  made  at  Madame  Celeste's,"  she 


48  WITCH  WINNIE. 

said,  "  and  I  mean  to  ask  her  about  this  Mrs. 
Halsey." 

Jim  came  with  the  package  while  we  were 
at  supper,  and  Adelaide  ran  down  to  the 
office  to  receive  it.  She  told  us  that  he  was 
an  undersized,  stoop-shouldered  boy,  with  a 
couofh  which  she  fancied  he  had  contracted 

^ 

by  driving  in  the  early  morning  mists.  He 
took  off  his  hat  like  a  little  gentleman,  how- 
ever, and  his  finger-nails  and  teeth  were  clean. 
Any  clown  might  wear  good  clothes,  Ade- 
laide insisted,  but  these  little  details  marked 
the  gentleman.  He  had  at  first  declined 
the  dime  which  Adelaide  proffered,  but  ac- 
cepted it  on  her  insistance  that  it  was  only 
for  car-fare  and  it  was  raining.  He  put  it 
away  carefully  in  a  little  worn  purse  which 
contained  just  one  cent,  at  the  same  time 
remarking,  "  I  don't  mind  the  rain,  and  I  can 
get  Ma  the  quinine  the  doctor  says  she 
ought  to  be  taking." 

"  That's  the  boy  for  me,"  Witch  Winnie 
remarked  ;  "  he's  got  clear  grit,  and  tender- 
ness for  his  mother  besides." 

And  Guinevere's  gown  ?  It  was  a  beauty. 
The  golden  lilies  gave  it  a  sumptuous  effect, 
and  it  fulfilled  almost  exactly  the  promises 
of  the  forged  letter ;  there  was  even  a  rivtire 


GUINEVERE'S  GOWN.  49 

of  fish-scale  pearls  and  glass  beads  down 
the  side,  which  really  resembled  a  chatelaine. 
The  Hornets  were  overcome  with  amaze- 
ment— simply  dazzled  and  dazed.  Accord- 
ing to  Adelaide — who  always  resorted  to 
French  to  express  her  superlatives,  and,  when 
that  language  proved  inadequate,  pieced  it 
out  with  translations  of  American  slang  or 
coinage  of  her  own — they  were  "  Complete- 
ment  boulevers&es,  stupefie'es,  mortifiees,  et 
f rappee  plus  haute  gun — qun — kite  T 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE  PRINCESS. 


HAT'S  the  dear  old. 

lady, 
In   a   green    tabby 

gown 

And    a    great   lace 
cap, 

With  long  lace  ruffles 
hanging  down. 

There  she  sits 

In  a  cushioned  high-back- 
ed seat, 

Covered  over  with  crimson 
damask, 

With  a  footstool  at  her 
feet. 


You  see  what  a  handsome  room  it  is, 
Full  of  old  carving  and  gilding  ; 

The  house  is,  one  may  be  sure, 

Of  the  Elizabethan  style  of  building. 

— Mary  Howilt. 

Our  interest  in  Mrs.  Halsey  and  her  son 
slumbered  for  a  time  ;   not  that  we  forgot 

5° 


THE  PRINCESS.  5  I 

her,  or  gave  up  our  determination  to  do  some- 
thing" for  Jim  whenever  the  opportunity 
offered.  It  was  soon  to  come,  but  our  time 
and  interest  were  filled  with  other  things. 
Just  now  it  was  a  mystery — and  what  so 
dear  to  a  girl's  imagination  ? 

It  was  brought  up  for  discussion  afresh, 
because  Miss  Prillwitz  had  said  to  Emma 
Jane  Anton  that  the  diadem  which  I  wore  as 
Guinevere  was  not  a  suitable  one  for  a  queen, 
but  a  rather  nondescript  arrangement  half- 
way between  that  of  a  marquis  and  an  earl. 

This  assumption  of  authoritative  knowl- 
edge in  regard  to  coronets  revived  an  old 
rumor  as  to  the  noble  birth  of  Miss  Prillwitz. 

No  one  could  tell  who  first  circulated  the 
report  that  Miss  Prillwitz  was  a  princess.  It 
developed  little  by  little,  I  fancy,  but  when  it 
began  to  be  whispered  we  received  it  with- 
out a  shadow  of  doubt.  Miss  Prillwitz  was 
a  prim  little  woman,  who  always  came  to 
Madame's  receptions  dressed  in  the  same 
brocade  dress,  once  gaudy  with  a  great  bou- 
quet pattern,  but  now  faded  into  faint  pink 
and  primrose  on  a  background  of  silvery- 
green,  with  the  same  carefully  cleaned 
gloves  and  fine  old  fan  of  the  period  of  Marie 
Antoinette.  She  wore  her  perfectly  white 


52  WITCH  WINNIE. 

hair  a  la  Pompadour,  and  further  increased 
her  diminutive  height  by  French  heels,  but 
in  spite  of  these  artificial  contrivances  she 
was  a  tiny  woman,  though  she  had  dignity 
enough  for  a  very  tall  one.  Adelaide  said 
she  had  "  the  unmistakable  air  of  a  grande 
dame"  and  that  she  would  have  suspected 
her  in  any  disguise.  Milly  had  once  spied, 
half  tucked  in  her  belt  and  dependent  from 
a  slender  chain,  a  miniature,  set  in  brilliants, 
of  a  handsome  young  man  in  uniform,  a  row 
of  decorations  on  his  breast,  crosses  and  stars 
hanging  from  strips  of  bright  ribbon.  This 
was  a  great  discovery,  and  Milly  was  sure 
that  the  original  was  no  less  a  personage 
than  Peter  the  Great.  She  had  thought  out 
a  thrilling  romance  of  true  love  crossed  by 
jealousy  and  heartbreak,  which  the  rest  of 
the  girls  accepted  as  more  than  probable,  until 
Emma  Jane  Anton  suggested  that  as  Peter 
the  Great  died  in  1725,  it  would  really 
make  the  princess  much  older  than  she 
appeared,  to  fancy  that  he  was  the  hero  of 
her  girlhood.  Emma  Jane  Anton  always 
had  a  disagreeable  faculty  of  remembering 
dates.  The  other  girls  were  unanimous  in 
the  opinion  that  she  knew  entirely  too  much, 
and  each  one  looked  and  longed  for  an 


THE  PRINCESS. 


53 


opportunity  of  publicly  detecting  her  in  a 
mistake  and  correcting  her — an  opportunity 
which  never  came.  Milly  never  made  her- 
self offensive  by  being  certain  of  anything, 
and  was  loved  and  petted  accordingly.  The 
myth  of  a  royal  lover  was  a  congenial  one, 
and  gained  credence,  though  none  of  us  dared 
to  give  him  a  name  or  date,  at  least  not  in 
the  presence  of  Emma  Jane  Anton.  No  one 
had  the  temerity  to  question  Adelaide's 
infallibility  in  detecting  a  great  lady  at  first 
sight.  It  did  not  ever  occur  to  Emma  Jane 
Anton  to  ask  how  many  princesses  she 
had  met,  and  what  was  the  "  unmistakable 
air "  of  distinction  and  nobility  which 
announced  them  like  a  herald's  proclamation. 
Perhaps  this  was  because  Adelaide  herself 
possessed  this  grand  air  by  nature,  and  was 
far  more  regal  in  appearance  and  feeling 
than  many  a  Guelph  or  Stuart.  Witch  Win- 
nie, perhaps  because  she  was  the  mad-cap  of 
the  boarding-school,  and  was  always  getting 
into  scrapes  herself,  snuffed  a  political  plot, 
and  suggested  that  the  princess  had  been 
exiled  on  account  of  deep-laid  machinations 
against  one  of  the  reigning  families,  a  sup- 
position which  would  account  for  her  living 
in  exile  and  disguise,  and  even  in  comparative 


54 


WITCH  WINNIE. 


poverty.  This  explanation,  as  being1  the 
most  ingenious,  and  affording  fascinating 
scope  for  the  imagination,  was  the  most 
popular  one,  and  was  more  or  less  elaborated 
according  to  the  individual  fancy  of  the 
young  lady.  Emma  Jane  Anton  was  obliged 
to  admit  that  she  might  be  a  princess,  and 
that  there  was  no  harm  in  calling  her  so 
amongst  ourselves.  Madame  had  let  fall 
some  very  singular  expressions  when  she 
announced  the  fact  that  we  were  to  have 
her  for  our  teacher  in  Botany.  Emma  Jane 
had  heard  her,  and  it  was  she  who  had 
reported  the  news  to  the  others. 

"  Girls,"  she  said,  "  did  you  ever  hear  any- 
thing so  absurd  !  We  are  going  to  recite 
our  Botany  to  the  princess." 

"  You  don't  mean  it  !  " 

"  Honest !  She  lives  in  that  funny  old 
house  across  the  square,  that  Winnie  always 
pretends  to  think  is  haunted.  We  are  to 
parade  over  there  three  days  in  the  week. 
Madame  says  it's  a  great  opportunity, 
for  she  is  really  quite  eminent ;  writes  for 
scientific  journals,  has  traveled  in  all  sorts 
of  foreign  countries,  and  has  moved  in  court 
circles" 

"  I    told    you  so  !  "  exclaimed    Adelaide, 


THE  PRINCESS. 


55 


triumphantly.  "  I  always  said  she  was  a 
true-blue  princess." 

"  I  don't  know  that  you  have  quite  proved 
it  yet,"  replied  Emma  Jane  Anton,  coolly, 
"  but  Madame  did  say  that  we  would  have 
an  opportunity  of  learning"  much  more  from 
her  than  mere  botany — etiquette,  I  presume — • 
for  she  went  on  to  hint  that  she  had  been 
brought  up  in  a  different  school  of  manners 
from  that  of  our  own  day  and  country,  that 
we  would  find  her  peculiar  in  some  ways, 
and  that  she  trusted  to  our  native  courtesy 
to  humor  her  little  foibles,  and  a  hundred 
more  things  of  the  same  sort,  winding  up 
with  that  stock  expression  which  she  always 
uses  when  she  has  talked  a  subject  to  shreds 
and  tatters — '  A  word  to  the  wise  is  suf- 
ficient.' " 

"  I  wish  I  had  heard  her,"  said  Witch 
Winnie;  "  I  don't  consider  this  subject  talked 
to  tatters,  by  any  means.  I  propose  that  this 
Botany  class  constitute  itself  a  committee 
of  investigation  to  clear  up  the  mystery  in 
regard  to  the  history  of  the  princess.  We 
are  supposed  to  be  devoted  to  the  study  of 
nature,  but  I  consider  human  nature  a  deal 
the  more  interesting.  It  will  almost  pay  for 
having  to  mind  one's /'s  and  /s.  I  wonder 


56  WITCH  WINNIE. 

what  she  would  say  if  she  caught  me  sliding 
down  her  palace  balusters  !  We'll  all  have  to 
practice  curtseying — one  step  to  the  side, 
then  two  back.  Oh  !  I'm  ever  so  sorry  I 
knocked  over  that  stand.  Was  the  vase  a 
keepsake  or  anything?  I'll  buy  you  an- 
other. No,  I  can't,  for  I've  spent  all  my 
allowance  for  this  month.  Well,  you  may 
have  that  bonbon-nitre  of  mine  you  liked  so 
much.  The  vase  was  a  treasure,  but  no  one 
could  be  vexed  with  Witch  Winnie,  and  I 
forgave  her,  of  course,  and  would  none  of 
the  bonbonntire. 

Our  first  glimpse  at  the  house  in  which 
the  princess  lived  was  as  appetizing  to  our 
imaginations  as  the  little  lady  herself.  It 
had  been  built  as  a  church  -  school,  and 
straggled  around  the  church,  shaping  itself 
to  the  exterior  angles  of  that  edifice,  and  in 
so  doing  gained  a  number  of  queerly  shaped 
rooms,  some  long  and  narrow,  and  others 
with  irregular  corners,  but  all  bright  with 
southern  sunshine.  The  princess  rented 
only  the  upper  floor  and  the  front  room  in 
the  basement.  The  rest  of  the  house  had 
been  let  to  other  parties,  but  was  now 
vacant.  How  strange  and  lonely  it  must 
seem,  we  thought,  to  go  up  and  down  those 


THE  PRINCESS. 


57 


long  staircases,  and  peep  into  the  unin- 
habited rooms  !  Rather  eerie  at  night.  "  I 
wouldn't  live  that  way  for  the  world,"  shiv- 
ered Milly.  "  I  should  be  afraid  of  robbers." 

"  Burglars  don't  usually  choose  an  unoc- 
cupied house  for  their  operations,"  Emma 
Jane  remarked,  sententiously. 

Later,  when  we  were  better  acquainted 
with  the  princess,  Milly  asked  her  if  she  was 
never  timid.  She  acknowledged  that  she 
was,  but  assured  us  that  rats  were  one  great 
comfort. 

"What     do    you    mean?"     Milly    asked. 

"  Whenevaire,"  said  the  princess  (in  the 
quaint  broken  English  which  we  always 
found  so  fascinating,  English  which  had  only 
the  foreignness  of  pronunciation  and  idiom, 
and  which  Adelaide  insisted  was  rarely  so 
maltreated  as  to  be  really  broken,  but  was 
only  a  little  dislocated) — "  whenevaire  I  hear 
one  cautious  sawing  noise  which  shall  be  as 
if  ze  burglaire  to  file  ze  lock,  I  say  to  my- 
self, 'Ah,  ha  !  Monsieur  Rat  have  invited  to 
himself  some  companie  in  ze  pantry  of  ze 
butler.'  When  zere  come  one  tappage  on  ze 
escalier,  as  zo  some  one  make  haste  to 
depart  ze  house,  I  turn  myself  upon  my  bed 
and  make  to  myself  explanation — Rats ! 


c;  8  WITCH  WINNIE. 

When  ze  footsteps  mysterious  steal  so  softly 
down  ze  hall,  and  make  pause  justly  at  my 
door,  then  I  reach  for  ze  great  cane  of 
my  fazzer,  which  I  keep  at  all  times  by  ze 
canopy  of  my  bed,  and  I  pound  on  ze  floor 
— boom,  boom,  Monsieur  Rat  sctlerat,  and 
it  is  thus  I  make  my  reassurance." 

The  princess  received  us  in  what  had  been 
the  .basement  dining-room,  which  she  called 
her  laboratory.  The  entire  south  side  was 
one  broad  window  of  small  diamond-shaped 
panes.  Forming"  a  sill  to  this  window  was 
a  row  of  low,  wide  cases  for  the  reception  of 
herbaria,  and  the  room  had  a  peculiar  herby 
smell,  a  mixture  of  sweet-ferri  and  faint  aro- 
matic herbs. 

The  cushions  which  converted  the  tops  of 
these  cases  into  seats  were  stuffed  with 
dried  beech-leaves. 

The  princess  quoted  Latin  to  us  for  her 
preference  for  the  fine  springy  upholstery 
which  beech-leaves  give.  Silva  domus,  cubil- 
iafrondes.  ("  The  wood  a  house,  the  foliage 
a  couch.") 

The  other  furniture  in  the  room  was  a 
long  table  placed  in  front  of  the  book-case 
divan,  a  table  covered  with  piles  of  MS. 
books,  a  press  for  specimens,  two  micro- 


THE  PRINCESS.  59 

scopes,  and  a  great  blue  china  bowl  contain- 
ing pussy-willows  in  water — our  specimens 
for  the  day's  study.  High  book-cases,  whose 
contents  could  only  be  guessed  at,  for  the 
glass  doors  were  lined  with  curiously  shirred 
green  silk,  were  ranged  against  the  wall  op- 
posite, and  at  one  end  of  the  room  stood  a 
monumental  German  stove  in  white  porce- 
lain; at  the  other  was  Miss  Prillwitz's  chair,  a 
high-backed  Gothic  affair,  which  had  once 
served  as  an  episcopal  sedilizim,  but  had  been 
removed  on  the  occasion  of  a  new  furnishing 
of  the  church. 

It  formed  a  stately  background  for  the 
little  figure.  I  often  found  myself  making 
sketches  of  her  on  the  sheets  of  soft  paper 
between  which  we  pressed  our  flowers,  in- 
stead of  listening  to  the  lecture.  I  liked  to 
imagine  how  she  would  look  in  a  great  ruff, 
not  of  Cynthia  Vaughn's  mosquito  net,  but 
of  T&aOi  point  de  Venise. 

And  yet  her  talks  were  very  interesting; 
she  was  a  true  lover  of  nature,  and  made  us 
love  her.  She  regretted  that  she  could  not 
take  us  into  the  deep  woods,  but  she  opened 
our  eyes  to  the  wealth  of  country  suggest- 
iveness  which  we  could  find  in  the  city.  She 
introduced  us  personally  to  the  scanty  two 


6O  WITCH  WINNJE. 

dozen  or  so  of  trees  in  the  little  park,  and 
from  the  intimate  acquaintance  formed  with 
each  of  these,  our  appetites  were  whetted 
for  vast  wildernesses  of  forest  primeval. 

She  opened  to  us  the  beauty  which  there 
lies  in  the  simple  branching  of  the  trees  in 
their  winter  nudity,  the  tracery  of  the  limbs 
and  twigs  cut  clearly  against  a  yellow  sun- 
set, or  picked  out  with  snow ;  how  the  elms 
gave  graceful  wine-glass  and  Greek-vase 
outlines];  the  snakily  mottled  sycamore  un- 
dulated its  great  arms  like  a  boa-constrictor 
reaching  out  for  prey ;  the  birch,  "  the  lady 
of  the  woods,"  displayed  her  white  satin 
dress  ;  the  gnarled  hemlocks  wrestled  up- 
ward, each  sharp  angle  a  defiance  to  the 
winter  storms  with  which  they  had  striven 
in  heroic  combat,  the  bent  knees  clutching 
the  rocks,  while  the  aged  arms  writhed  and 
tossed  in  the  grasp  of  the  fiends  of  the  air. 
She  showed  us  the  beautiful  parabolic  curve 
of  the  willows,  a  bouquet  of  rockets  ;  the  mili- 
tary bearing  of  a  row  of  Lombardy  poplars 
standing,  in  their  perfect  alignment,  like  tall 
grenadiers  drawn  up  in  a  hollow  square. 
Before  the  first  tender  blurring  of  the  leaf- 
buds  we  knew  our  trees,  and  loved  them  for 
their  almost  human  qualities. 


THE  PRINCESS.  6 1 

Miss  Sartoris  had  taught  me,  the  preced- 
ing summer,  to  look  for  the  decorative  beauty 
to  be  found  in  common  roadside  weeds,  and 
we  had  made  sketches  together  of  dock, 
elecampane,  tansy,  thistles,  and  milkweed. 
I  had  one  rich,  rare  day  with  her  in  a  swamp, 
when  I  ruined  a  pair  of  stockings,  and  made 
the  discovery  that  a  skunk-cabbage  was  as 
beautiful  in  its  curves  as  a  calla.  I  brought 
these  sketches  to  the  princess,  and  she  con- 
gratulated me  on  the  possession  of  my  coun- 
try home  with  its  gold-mines  of  beauty  all 
around. 

"  You  are  one  heiress,  my  dear,"  she  said, 
"  to  ze  vast  wealths  which  you  have  only  to 
learn  how  you  s'all  enjoy.  Only  t'ink  of 
ze  sousands  of  poor  city  people  who  haf 
never  had  ze  felicity  to  see  a  swamp ! " 

I  grew  to  appreciate  the  country,  and  to 
feel  that  I  was  richer  than  I  had  thought. 

Milly  found  a  branch  of  study  which  was 
not  above  the  measure  of  her  intellect.  She 
soon  mastered  the  long  names,  and  learned 
to  think,  and  teachers  in  other  departments 
noted  an  improvement.  There  was  need  for 
this,  for  the  Hornets  long  kept  up  a  tradi- 
tion that  at  one  of  the  history  examinations 
Milly  had  been  asked,  "  What  is  the  Salic 


62  WITCH  WINNIE, 

Law  ?  "  and  had  replied,  confidently — "  That 
no  woman  or  descendant  of  a  woman,  can  eve*r 
reiom  in  France." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

COURT    LIFE. 

RS.  GROGAN,  the 

baby-farmer  of  Ric- 
kett's  Court,  could 
hardly  have  been 
described  as  a  court 
lady,  and  yet  she 
was  a  very  typical 
specimen  of  the  wo- 
men of  this  locality. 
But  before  introduc- 
ing the  reader  to  the 
society  of  Rickett's 
Court,  I  must  first 
explain  how  it  was 
that  we  came  to 
make  its  acquaintance. 

As  the  time  approached  for  the  concert  of 
which  I  have  spoken,  Adelaide  was  reminded 
of  her  determination  to  have  a  "  violin  dress  " 
made  by  Madame  Celeste.  Adelaide  played 

63 


64  WITCH  WINNIE. 

the  violin,  as  we  thought,  divinely  ;  she  was 
at  least  the  best  performer  at  Madame's. 
"  The  violin  is  the  violet,"  I  said,  quoting 
from  "  Charles  Auchester."  "  Vou  must  have 
a  violet-colored  gown." 

"  A  very  delicate  shade  of  china  crepe  will 
do,"  Adelaide  replied,  "  made  up  with  a 
darker  tint,  and  the  sleeves  must  be  puffed 
like  that  dress  the  princess  wore  to  the  tab- 
leaux." 

"Adelaide,  dear,"  murmured  Milly,  "you 
ought  to  wear  angel  sleeves  to  show  your 
lovely  arms." 

"And  have  them  flop  about  like  a  ship's 
pennant  in  a  lively  breeze,  during  that  bit 
of  rapid  bowing  ?  That  would  be  too  gro- 
tesque." 

"  Puff  them  to  the  elbow,"  I  suggested, 
"  and  then  have  a  fall  of  soft  lace  that  will 
float  back  and  give  the  turn  of  your  wrist  as 
you  whip  the  strings." 

"  See  here,  Adelaide,"  remarked  Witch 
Winnie,  "  if  you  want  something  really  fine, 
get  that  Mrs.  Halsey  to  design  it  for  you." 

''  You  don't  suppose  that  I  would  hire  a 
dress  for  the  concert  at  a  costumer's  ?  " 

"  I  didn't  say  that ;  you  could  have  it  made 
wherever  you  pleased,  but  get  Mrs.  Halsey's 


COURT  LIFE.  65 

ideas  on  the  subject ;  they  are  really  remark- 
able." 

Adelaide  considered  the  subject  and  acted 
upon  it,  but,  greatly  to  my  relief,  she  refused 
to  do  so  without  explaining"  the  entire  affair 
to  Madame. 

"  I'll  not  stand  in  the  way  of  your  having 
a  nice  gown,"  said  Witch  Winnie.  "  Come, 
Tib,  let's  confess." 

I  was  overjoyed,  and  Madame,  though  duly 
shocked,  was  not  severe.  She  even  allowed 
Witch  Winnie  to  take  Adelaide  to  see  Mrs. 
Halsey,  stipulating  only  that  she  should  be 
chaperoned  by  one  of  the  teachers.  Adelaide 
chose  Miss  Sartoris,  at  my  suggestion,  both 
because  we  liked  her,  and  from  my  feel- 
ing that  her  artistic  instinct  might  be  of 
service. 

The  girls  were  disappointed  to  find  that 
Mrs.  Halsey  was  no  longer  at  the  costumer's. 
He  had  "  pounced  "  her,  he  said,  because  she 
was  "  too  much  of  a  lady  for  de  peesness." 
Fortunately  he  could  give  the  girls  her 
address — No.  i,  sixth  floor,  Rickett's  Court. 

It  was  a  very  disagreeable  part  of  town. 
Miss  Sartoris  looked  doubtful  as  they 
approached  it,  and  was  on  the  point  of  get- 
ting into  the  carriage  again  as  they  alighted, 

5 


66  WITCH  WINNIE 

but  Witch  Winnie  had  already  darted  through 
a  long  dark  hall  which  led  to  the  court  in 
the  centre  of  the  block,  and  there  was  noth- 
ing for  it  but  to  follow. 

Evil  smells  nearly  choked  them  as  they 
ran  the  gauntlet  of  that  hall,  and  they  were 
no  better  off  on  emerging  upon  the  sloppy 
court.  The  space  overhead,  between  the 
buildings,  was  laced  with  an  intricate  net- 
work of  clothes -lines  filled  with  garments. 
Adelaide  said  she  realized  now  where  all 
upper  New  York  had  its  laundry  work  done, 
for  this  was  evidently  not  the  wash  of  the 
court  people.  From  their  appearance  it  was 
only  fair  to  conjecture  that  they  were  so 
busy  doing  other  people's  washing  that  they 
never  had  time  for  their  own.  The  dirty 
water  seemed  to  be  thrown  from  the  windows 
into  the  court,  where  it  stood  in  puddles  or 
feebly  trickled  into  the  sewer,  from  which 
emanated  nauseous  and  deadly  gases.  Sickly 
children  were  dabbling  in  these  puddles. 

"  It  makes  me  think  of  Hood's  '  Lost  Heir,'  " 
said  Miss  Sartoris — 

"  The  court, 

Where  he  was  better  off  than  all  the  other  young  boys, 
With  two  bricks,  an  old  shoe,  nine  oyster  shells,  and  a 
dead  kitten  by  way  of  toys." 


COURT  LIFE.  67 

They  mounted  a  ricketty  staircase  grimed 
with  dirt.  Smells  of  new  degrees  and 
varieties  of  loathsomeness  assaulted  them  at 
every  landing.  The  Italian  rag-pickers  in 
the  basement  were  sorting  their  filthy  wares, 
while  a  little  girl  was  concocting-  for  them 
the  garlic  stew  over  a  charcoal  brazier.  The 
mingled  fumes  came  thick  from  the  open 
door.  Mrs.  Grogan  on  the  first  floor  had 
paused  in  her  washing  to  take  a  pull  at  a 
villainous  pipe.  She  came  to  the  door  still 
smoking,  and  carrying  in  her  arms  an 
almost  skeleton  baby,  who  sucked  at  a  dirty 
rag  containing  a  crust  dipped  in  gin.  Win- 
nie obtained  one  glimpse  of  the  interior  of 
Mrs.  Grogan's  domicile,  and  drew  back  quite 
pale.  "Adelaide,"  she  said,  "the  room  liter- 
ally swarmed  with  babies;  that  woman  can- 
not have  so  many  all  of  the  same  age,"  In- 
quiry of  Mrs.  Halsey  enlightened  them. 
Mrs.  Grogan  was  a  "  baby-farmer,"  and 
boarded  these  children,  making  a  good 
income  thereby,  as  their  mothers  were 
servants  in  good  families.  On  the  next 
floor  a  family  of  eight  were  working  in  a 
hall-bedroom,  at  rolling  cigars.  The  large 
rooms  were  occupied  by  some  Chinese. 
Mrs.  Halsey  thought  that  they  used  them  as 


68  WITCH  WINNIE. 

an  opium  den.  Past  more  doors,  up  three 
more  pairs  of  stairs,  and  they  paused  at 
No.  i.  They  knocked  several  times,  but 
they  could  not  make  themselves  heard  above 
the  buzz  and  whirr  of  a  sewing-machine. 
Finally  Winnie  opened  the  door,  and  there 
sat  Mrs.  Halsey  bent  over  the  machine, 
while  the  floor  was  piled  with  dainty  under- 
clothing neatly  tucked. 

She  sprang  up,  evidently  pleased  to  see 
Winnie  again,  and  motioned  her  callers  to 
the  only  seats  which  the  room  afforded — 
a  chair,  a  trunk,  and  a  stool. 

Winnie  apologized  for  the  interruption, 
and  explained  her  errand.  "  But  perhaps  you 
are  too  busy  to  design  this  dress,"  Adelaide 
said  ;  "  I  see  you  have  plenty  of  work." 

"  It  will  not  take  long  to  make  a  little 
sketch,"  Mrs.  Halsey  replied,  "and  it  will  be 
a  real  pleasure  for  me  to  do  it."  As  her 
fingers  moved  rapidly  over  the  paper  the 
girls  took  an  inventory  of  the  room.  A 
cracked  cooking  -  stove,  and  a  cupboard 
behind  it  formed  of  a  dry-goods  box,  but  all 
the  utensils  were  scrupulously  clean.  A 
closet,  another  dry-goods  case  on  end,  with 
a  chintz  curtain  in  front,  concealed,  as  Win- 
nie's prying  eyes  ascertained,  a  roll  of  bed- 


COURT  LIFE.  69 

ding-,  which  was  evidently  spread  on  the 
floor  at  night.  Mrs.  Halsey  knelt  before  a 
worn  table,  and  this,  with  the  sewing- 
machine,  completed  the  furnishing  of  the 
apartment.  No,  in  the  window  there  was 
a  row  of  fruit  -  cans  containing-  some 
geraniums.  Miss  Sartoris  discovered  them, 
and  Mrs.  Halsey  apologized  for  their  con- 
dition. "They  were  just  in  bud,"  she  said, 
"  but  we  were  without  coal  for  several  days, 
and  they  were  nipped  by  frost." 

Poor  woman  !  she  looked  as  if  she  had 
been  nipped  by  the  frost  too  during  that 
bitter  experience.  She  coughed,  and 
Adelaide  remarked,  "  You  ought  to  drink 
cream,  Mrs.  Halsey;  they  say  it  is  better  for 
a  cough  than  cod-liver  oil." 

o 

"  I  have  plenty  of  milk,"  the  little  woman 
replied.  "The  milkman  for  whom  my  Jim 
works  lets  him  have  the  milk  that  he 
finds  left  over  in  the  cans  when  he  washes 
them  out  after  his  rounds.  Sometimes 
there's  as  much  as  a  pint,  and  almost  always 
enough  for  our  oatmeal." 

Mrs.  Halsey  spoke  cheerily  and  proudly — 
as  of  a  luxury  which  she  owed  her  boy. 
The  design  was  completed,  and  Adelaide 
was  delighted. 


Jro  WITCH  W1NXIE. 

"Would  you  like  to  have  me  make  the 
costume  in  tissue-paper?"  Mrs.  Halsey 
asked;  "  the  sleeve,  at  least,  and  this  drapery  ; 
then  any  seamstress  can  make  it." 

"  How  much  will  it  be  ?  "  Adelaide  asked, 
doubtfully — wondering  if  her  five-dollar  bill 
would  cover  the  charge. 

"  Do  you  think  seventy-five  cents  too 
much  ?  It  would  take  me  an  afternoon." 

"  But  you  could  certainly  earn  more  than 
that  by  your  sewing"." 

Mrs.  Halsey  smiled  rather  bitterly. 
"Would  you  really  like  to  know  the  rates  at 
which  I  work  ?  "  she  asked. 

Adelaide  expressed  her  interest.  "  These 
pretty  Mother  Hubbard  night-gowns  sell 
well,  I  am  sure,  but  I  kno\v  you  can't 
get  very  much  for  making  them,  for  I 
bought  a  pair  at  a  bargain  counter  for  a 
dollar." 

"It  is  the  bargain  counter  which  makes 
the  low  pay.  I  get  a  dollar  and  thirty  cents 
a  dozen  for  making  them,"  said  Mrs.  Halsey, 
calmly. 

"  A  dozen  !  "  cried  Winnie  ;  "  and  how 
many  can  you  make  in  a  day  ?" 

"  Eight." 

"  Then  you  make — " 


COURT  LIFE.  71 

"  Eighty-five  cents  a  day  ;  but  I  cannot 
average  that.'" 

"  Can't  you  do  better  with  something 
else  ?" 

"I  have  made  flannel  skirts — tucked — at 
a  dollar  a  dozen,  but  I  can  only  make  eight 
of  those  in  a  day,  so  that  is  less  I  have 
received  a  dollar  and  twenty  cents  a  dozen 
for  making  chemises,  which  sell  at  seven 
dollars  a  dozen  ;  and  seventy-five  cents  a 
dozen  for  babies'  slips,  three  tucks  and  a 
hem  ;  forty  cents  a  dozen  for  corset  covers. 
I  have  a  friend  who  works  a  machine  in  a 
ruffling  factory  ;  she  makes  a  hundred  and 
fifty  yards  of  hemmed  and  tucked  ruffling  a 
day,  for  which  she  receives  twenty-five  cents. 
So,  you  see,  I  am  better  off  than  some."* 

"  And  can  you  live  on  five  dollars  a 
week  ? " 

"Six  dollars,  Madame  ;  Jim  earns  one  dol- 
lar and  the  milk." 

"  You  pay  for  rent — " 

"  Six  dollars  a  month  ;  yes,  it  is  hard  to 
earn  that." 

"  You  must  be  thankful  that  you  have 
only  Jim  to  provide  for." 

*  See  "  Campbell's  Prisoners  of  Poverty  "  for  still  more 
harrowing  statistics. 


72  WITCH  WINNIE. 

"  The  Sandys,  on  the  floor  below,  have  six 
children;  five  of  them  earn  wages.  I  think 
they  earn  more  than  their  cost." 

"But,"  said  Miss  Sartoris,  "I  thought 
child  labor  was  prohibited  by  law." 

"  Not  out  of  school  hours,  or  at  home. 
Then  the  parents  often  swear  a  child  is 
over  fourteen,  but  small  of  its  age,  and  get 
it  into  a  factory.  You  wouldn't  blame  them, 
Madame,  if  you  knew  all  the  circumstances 
I  do.  I  keep  Jim  at  his  books,  but  the 
study,  with  the  night  work,  I'm  afraid  is  kill- 
ing him.  They  tempt  him  at  the  saloon,  too, 
to  take  what  they  call  a  "  bracer  "  as  he  goes 
out  to  drive  the  milk  cart  at  3  in  the  morn- 
ing, but  I  get  up  and  have  tea  ready  for 
him,  so  that  he  does  not  yield." 

"We  must  go  now,"  said  Miss  Sartoris, 
kindly.  "  You  will  send  Jim  with  the  paper 
pattern  to-night  ?"  Adelaide  slipped  a  dollar 
into  Mrs.  Halsey's  hand,  and  would  take  no 
change.  And  the  three  went  down  the 
stairs  thoughtful  and  sad. 

"  What  can  we  do  for  her  ? "  Winnie 
asked. 

"  I  am  sure  I  don't  know,"  replied  Miss 
Sartoris  ;  "  she  certainly  seems  capable  of 
securing  better  wages." 


COURT  LIFE.  73 

"I  will  speak  to  Madame  Celeste  about 
her,"  said  Adelaide ;  and  she  was  as  good 
as  her  word.  Winnie  accompanied  Adelaide 
when  she  took  the  pattern  to  the  fashionable 
dress-maker.  The  modiste  listened  in  rapt 
attention  to  Adelaide's  explanation  of  the 
gown  wanted.  She  examined  the  design 
with  interest.  "  It  is  perfectly  made,"  she 
said.  "  Who  constructed  this  for  you  ?  It  is 
the  work  of  an  expert.  Ah,  Miss,  if  I 
only  had  now  in  my  establishment  a  de- 
signer who  was  with  me  last  year  !  She  had 
such  a  mind  for  costumes  de  fantaisie  !  For 
Greek  costumes  to  be  worn  at  the  harp, 
and  for  Directoire  dresses,  I  miss  her  cruelly, 
but  Mademoiselle's  design  is  so  explicit  that 
we  will  have  no  trouble." 

"  Was  your  designer  a  Mrs.  Halsey  ? ' 
Winnie  asked. 

"  The  same,  Miss.  Do  you  know  her  ? 
Can  you  give  me  her  address  ?  I  must  try 
to  get  her  back." 

"  I  think  you  may  be  able  to  obtain  her. 
She  made  this  pattern  for  me  ;  but  you  will 
have  to  bid  high,  for  she  has  her  boy  with 
her  now." 

"  Ah  yes  !  the  boy  ;  that  was  the  trouble 
between  us.  Seamstresses  have  no  business 


74  WITCH  WINNIE 

to  be  mothers.  Mrs.  Halsey  ought  to  give 
up  the  child  entirely  to  some  asylum  for 
adoption;  he  will  always  be  a  handicap  to 
her  ;  but  she  does  not  see  this,  and  clings  to 
him  as  though  she  thought  him  her  only 
chance  for  fortune.  There  is  a  mystery  in 
Mrs.  Halsey's  life.  Her  husband  has  deserted 
her,  and  she  lives  in  the  vain  hope  that  he 
will  come  back  some  day  and  explain  every- 
thing. She  patronized  me  once,  long  ago, 
when  she  was  in  better  circumstances.  She 
will  not  talk  about  her  husband,  and  I  fancy 
that  he  is  one  of  those  defaulting  cashiers 
who  have  run  away  to  Canada.  I  am  willing 
to  take  her  back  on  the  old  terms,  but  she 
must  give  up  her  boy.  I  have  an  order  for  a 
set  of  costumes  for  one  of  our  queens  of  the 
opera.  Mrs.  Halsey  is  just  the  one  to  take 
it  in  hand.  Where  did  you  say  she  could  be 
found  ?  " 

"  I  think  you  had  better  communicate  with 
her  through  me,"  Adelaide  replied  ;  "  I  am 
not  at  liberty  to  give  her  address." 

"  And  it  is  very  possible,"  Winnie  spoke 
up,  eagerly,  for  she  had  seen  a  gleam  in  Mad- 
ame Celeste's  eyes,  "  that  her  friends  will 
provide  for  the  boy.  In  that  case  she  will 
be  more  independent,  and  perhaps  will  not 


COURT  LIFE.  75 

be  willing  to  return  at  the  old  salary.  What 
shall  we  say  is  the  most  that  you  will  offer." 

"  Five  dollars  a  week  and  her  board;  that 
is  very  good  pay,  Miss;  fifty  cents  more  than 
I  paid  her  when  she  was  with  me." 

The  girls  could  hardly  wait  to  reach  the 
Amen  Corner  to  talk  the  matter  over.  Milly 
was  all  sympathy.  "  I  will  write  to  papa," 
she  said,  "  and  get  him  to  send  Jim  to  a 
boarding-school.  I'll  send  for  several  circu- 
lars, and  find  out  how  much  it  costs." 

As  an  answer  from  Mr.  Roseveldt  might 
be  expected  the  next  day,  we  decided  to 
wait  for  it.  Adelaide  regretted  that  her 
father  was  in  Omaha,  as  she  was  sure  that 
he  would  have  aided  in  the  scheme. 

Mr.  Roseveldt's  answer  was  most  discour- 
aging. He  regarded  Milly's  plan  as  mere 
sentimental  nonsense,  and  would  take  no 
interest  in  it. 

"You  might  save  something  out  of  your 
allowance,  Milly,"  suggested  the  audacious 
Winnie. 

"  I  give  away  three- fourths  of  it  now," 
Milly  replied,  in  an  injured  tone.  "  What 
with  the  flowers  I  have  on  the  organ  every 
day  for  Miss  Hope,  and  the  favors  for  the 
german,  which  I  always  furnish,  and  the 


76  WITCH  WINNIE. 

bonbons  I  give  you  girls,  and  all  my  other 
extras — " 

"  But,  Milly  dear,"  I  exclaimed,  "we  would 
all  ever  so  much  rather  you  spent  the  candy 
money  for  Jim  than  on  us." 

"  But  I  want  some  candy  for  myself,  and 
1  am  not  going  to  be  so  mean  as  to  munch 
it,  and  not  pass  any  to  the  ether  girls." 

It  would  have  been  a  real  deprivation 
to  Milly  to  do  without  her  beloved  can- 
dy. She  gloated  over  luscious  pasty 
•'  lumps  of  delight  "  in  the  way  of  marsh- 
mallows  and  chocolate  creams,  candied 
fruits  and  marrons  glacees,  and  her  silver 
bonbonniere  was  always  filled  with  the  most 
expensive  candied  violets  and  rose>leaves. 
Worse  than  this,  there  were  certain  little 
cordial  drops,  which  were  a  peculiar  weak- 
ness of  Milly's  ;  none  of  us  knew  with  what 
an  awful  danger  she  was  playing,  or  that 
Milly  inherited  a  taste  for  alcoholic  beverages 
through  several  generations.  But  Milly  was 
not  selfish. 

"Very  well,  girls,"  she  said,  with  a  sigh,  "  if 
you  will  go  without,  I  will,  and  we  will  form 
a  total  abstinence  candy  society.  I  know 
just  how  much  that  means  for  Jim,  for  I  paid 
Maillard  eight  dollars  last  month." 


COURT  LIFE.  77 

"  You  are  a  good  girl,"  spoke  up  Emma 
Jane,  "  and  if  you  hold  to  that  resolution, 
Milly  Roseveldt,  I  will  deal  you  out  a  cake 
of  maple  sugar  every  day,  from  a  box  I've 
just  received  from  some  Vermont  cousins. 
I  was  wondering  what  I  should  do  with  it, 
for  I  don't  care  for  sweets." 

Milly's  face  brightened  ;  all  unconsciously 
she  was  doing  as  great  a  kindness  to  herself 
as  to  Jim,  and  the  pure  maple  sugar  was  a 
good  substitute  for  the  unwholesome  con- 
coctions of  the  confectioner  ;  it  satisfied  her 
craving  for  sweets,  and  did  not  poison  her 
appetite. 

The  rest  of  us  added  our  small  contribu- 
tions, but  the  aggregate  only  amounted  to 
three  dollars  a  week,  and  we  were  unable 
to  learn  of  any  boarding-school  to  which 
Jim  could  be  sent  at  those  rates. 

Winnie  had  communicated  Madame  Ce- 
leste's offer  to  Mrs.  Halsey.  "  It  would  be  just 
the  thing  if  I  were  alone,"  she  replied,  "but 
what  would  Jim  do  without  me  ? " 

"  Perhaps  you  can  board  him  somewhere," 
Winnie  suggested  ;  and  she  told  of  the  sum 
which  we  girls  had  promised. 

"  If  I  knew  of  any  respectable  place  where 
he  would  have  good  influences,  I  would 


78  WITCH  WINNIE. 

accept  your  kindness,  as  a  loan,  for  a  little 
while,"  Mrs.  Halsey  replied,  "  for  my  first 
earnings  must  go  for  clothes.  I  have  friends 
in  Connecticut ;  perhaps  they  will  take  Jim." 

But  Mrs.  Halsey  found  that  her  friends 
had  moved  West.  She  thanked  us  for  our 
interest,  but  said  that  there  seemed  nothing- 
better  to  do  than  to  continue  as  they  were. 

"  I  can't  bear  to  tell  Madame  Celeste  that 
she  declines  her  offer,"  said  Adelaide.  "  We 
must  find  a  place  for  that  boy." 

"  I  don't  see  how,"  replied  Winnie;  but  she 
saw,  that  afternoon ;  it  came  to  her  all  by  a 
sudden  inspiration  during  our  botany  lesson. 


CHAPTER   V. 


LITTLE    PRINCE    DEL    PARADISO. 


day  the  botany 
class  found  their  teach- 
er in  a  flutter  of  excite- 
ment. There  was  a 
fresh,  pink  glow  in  the 
faded  cheeks,  and  an 
unusual  sparkle  in  the 
kindly  eyes.  She  seat- 
ed herself  in  the  epis- 
copal chair,  lifted  her 
lorgnette,  and  began 
to  arrange  the  speci- 
mens for  the  day's  lesson,  but  her  hand 
trembled  so  that  she  could  scarcely  adjust 
the  microscope,  and  the  papers  on  which  her 
notes  were  written  sifted  through  her  fingers 
and  were  strewn  in  confusion  on  the  floor. 

"  Are  you    ill,  Miss    Prillwitz  ?"  Adelaide 
asked,  in  alarm. 

'  No,  Miss  Armstrong,"  replied  the  princess, 

79 


8o  WITCH  WINNIE. 

"  it  is  not  a  painful  in  my  system,  and  it  is 
not  a  sorry  ;  it  is  a  pleasant.  I  shall  expect 
to  myself  a  company,  and  this  is  to  me  so 
seldom  that  I  find  myself  egar£ — what  you 
call  it? — scatter?  sprinkled? — as  to  my 
understanding." 

We  all  looked  our  interest,  and  Winnie 
ventured  to  ask — "  One  of  your  relations, 
Miss  Prillwitz  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  replied  the  little  lady  ;  "  he  is  of 
my  own  family,  though  to  see  him  I  have 
never  ze  pleasure.  It  ees  ze  little  Prince  del 
Paradiso." 

We  girls  pinched  each  other  under  the 
table,  while  Milly  murmured,  "  A  prince ! 
How  perfectly  lovely  !  " 

"Yes,"  replied  Miss  Prillwitz;  "  ze  birth- 
right to  ziss  little  poy  is  one  great,  high, 
nobilitie,  la  plus  haute  noblesse,  but  he  know 
nossing  of  it,  nossing  whateffer.  He  haf  ze 
misfortune  to  be  exported  from  his  home 
when  one  leetle  child  ;  he  haf  been  elevated 
by  poor  peoples  to  think  himself  also  a  poor. 
He  know  nossing  of  ze  estates  what  belong 
his  family,  and  better  he  not  know  until  he 
make  surely  his  title,  and  he  make  to  himself 
some  education  which  shall  make  him  suit 
to  his  position." 


LITTLE  PRINCE  DEL  PARADISO.  8 1 

"  How  did  you  know  about  this  little 
stolen  prince  ? "  Emma  Jane  asked. 

"  I  receive  message  from  his  older  bruzzer 
to  take  him  to  my  house  provisionellement, 
till  his  rights  and  his — his — what  you  call — 
his  sameness  ?  " 

"  You  mean  his  identity  ?  " 

"Yes,  yes,  his  die  entity  can  be  justly  prove." 

"  It  seems  to  me,"  said  Witch  Winnie,  impul- 
sively, "  that  he  can't  be  a  very  kind  elder 
brother  to  be  so  indifferent." 

"  My  dear  child,  you  make  my  admiration 
with  what  celeritude  you  do  arrive  always 
at  exactly  ze  wrong  conclusion.  Ze  prince 
haf  made  great  effort  to  recover  his  little 
bruzzer,  but  he  must  guard  himself  from  ze 
false  claimants,  ze  impostors." 

"  Then  the  little  boy  who  is  coming  to 
you,"  said  Emma  Jane,  "  may  not  be  the 
real  prince,  after  all  ? " 

"  That  is  a  possible,"  Miss  Prillwitz  admit- 
ted, "  but  it  is  not  a  probable.  Somesing 
assure  me  zat  he  s'all  prove  his  nobility." 

"  How  very  interesting,"  said  Milly.  "  Was 
he  stolen  away  from  home  by  gypsies  ?  " 

"  No,  my  child,  he  was  not  steal.  He 
wandered  himself  away  from  his  fazzer's 
house  and  was  lost. 

6 


82  WITCH  WINNIE. 

"  How  old  is  he  now  ?" 

"Twelve  year." 

Witch  Winnie  started  ;  that  was  just 
Jim  Halsey's  age,  and  what  a  difference 
in  the  destiny  awaiting  the  two  boys ! 
One  the  son  of  a  king,  the  other  of  a 
criminal. 

"  Will  you  to  see  ze  little  chamber  of  ze 
petit  prince  ?  "  asked  Miss  Prillwitz. 

We  were  all  overjoyed  by  the  suggestion, 
and  the  ea^er  little  woman  led  us  to  a 

o 

room  just  under  the  roof,  with  a  dormer- 
window  looking  out  upon  the  roof  of  the 
church. 

Milly  ran  directly  to  this  window,  and 
drawing  aside  the  curtains  looked  out,  but 
started  back  again  half  frightened,  for  a 
carved  gargoyle  under  the  eaves  was  very 
near  and  leered  at  her  with  a  malicious, 
demoniacal  expression.  He  was  a  grotesque 
creature  with  bat  wings,  lolling  tongue,  and 
long  claws,  but  harmless  enough,  for  the 
doves  perched  on  his  head  and  preened  their 
iridescent  plumage  in  the  sunshine.  The 
church  roof  just  here  was  a  wilderness 
of  flying  buttresses  and  pinnacles ;  the 
chimes  were  still  far  overhead,  and  rang 
out,  as  we  entered  the  chambers,  my  fa- 


•  LITTLE  PRINCE  DEL  PARADISO.  83 

vorite  hymn — "  Sun  of  my  soul,  thou  Saviour 
dear." 

I  have  not  yet  described  the  room  itself. 
We  all  exclaimed  at  its  quaint  beauty  as  we 
entered. 

It  was  papered  with  an  old-fashioned  vine 
pattern,  the  green  foliage  twined  about  a 
slender  trellis,  and  this  gave  the  room,  which 
was  really  quite  small,  the  effect  of  an  arbor 
with  space  beyond.  There  was  a  patch  of 
dark  green  carpet  with  a  mossy  pattern 
before  the  bed,  which  was  very  simple  and 
dressed  in  white.  In  the  window  recess  was 
a  dry-goods  box,  upholstered  in  a  fern-pat- 
terned chintz  of  a  restful  green  tint,  and 
serving,  with  its  cushions,  both  as  a  divan 
and  as  a  chest  for  clothing.  There  was  a 
little  corner  wash-stand  with  a  toilet  set 
decorated  with  water-lilies  and  green  lily- 
pads,  and  there  was  a  little  sliding  curtain 
of  green  China  silk  with  a  shadow-pattern 
at  the  window,  while  through  the  uncur- 
tained upper  space  one  saw,  beyond  the 
church  roof,  the  trees  of  the  park. 

"  O  Miss  Prillwitz  !  "  I  exclaimed,  "  it  is 
just  Aurora  Leigh's  room  over  again.  You 
modeled  it  on  Mrs.  Browning's  description, 
did  you  not  ? — 


84  WITCH  WINNIE. 

*  I  had  a  little  chamber  in  the  house, 
As  green  as  any  privet-hedge  a  bird 

Might  choose  to  build  in 

the  walls 

Were  green,  the  carpet  was  pure  green; 

the  straight 
Small  bed  was  curtained  greenly, 

and  the  folds 
Hung  green  about  the  window, 

which  let  in 
A  dash  of  dawn  dew  from  its  greenery, 

the  honeysuckle.' " 

"I  haf  nefer  ze  pleasure  to  know  zat 
room,"  said  Miss  Prillwitz,  her  eyes  kindling. 

"  How  perfectly  sweet !"  exclaimed  Ade- 
laide. "  It  is  like  '  a  lodge  in  some  vast 
wilderness.'  I  didn't  know  that  there  was 
a  place  in  New  York  so  like  the  country." 

"  Will  the  prince  study  botany  with  us  ?  " 
Milly  asked,  as  we  descended  the  stairs. 

"  I  fear  he  is  not  ready  for  ze  botany. 
His  education  haf  been  neglect.  But  you 
s'all  see  him  oftenly.  I  must  beg  you  not  to 
tell  him  zat  he  is  a  prince  ;  zis  must  not 
divulge  to  him  until  ze  proper  time." 

"  And  then,"  added  Emma  Jane,  "  it 
would  be  cruel  to  excite  hopes  which  may 
be  doomed  to  disappointment." 

The  princess  smiled.     "  I  do  not  fear  zat," 


LITTLE  PRINCE  DEL  PARADISO.  85 

she  said.  "  And  now,  young  ladies,  I  must 
make  you  my  excuse,  and  beg  Miss  Arm- 
strong she  s'all  hear  ze  class  ze  remains  of 
ze  hour ;  I  must  go  to  ze  market  for  prepare 
ze  young  prince  his  supper." 

She  hurried  away,  and  we  attempted  to 
turn  our  minds  to  our  lesson.  Adelaide  had 
just  exclaimed  that  in  botany  the  term  hop 
signified  small,  and  dog  large,  but  she 
broke  off  the  statement  with  the  exclama- 
tion, "  And  do  you  see,  girls,  what  this 
proves  ?  " 

"  That  dog-roses  are  large  roses,"  replied 
Emma  Jane. 

"  That  the  Chinese  laundry  man  around 
the  corner,  Hop  Sin,  is  a  little  sinner,"  said 
Winnie. 

"  No,  no,  I  don't  mean  that,  but  she  said 
that  the  Prince  del  Paradiso  was  related  to 
her  ;  then,  of  course,  she  must  belong  to  the 
Paradiso  family  as  well,  and  what  we  have 
so  long  suspected  is  really  true.  She  is  a 
genuine  princess,  and  probably  the  daughter 
of  a  king." 

"  I  am  not  so  sure  of  that,"  replied  Emma 
Jane. 

"  Do  you  suspect  Miss  Prillwitz  of  being 
an  impostor?"  Adelaide  asked,  coldly. 


86  WITCH  WINNIE. 

"  Certainly  not,"  replied  Emma  Jane;  "but 
in  many  European  countries  every  son  of 
a  prince  is  called  a  prince,  instead  of  the 
eldest  son  only,  as  in  England,  and  all  the 
sons  of  all  the  younger  sons  are  princes,  and 
so  on  to  the  last  descendant ;  and  I  presume 
it  is  so  with  the  daughters  as  well  ;  so  that 
the  title  must  often  exist  where  there  are  no 
estates." 

"  But  Miss  Prillwitz  said  that  the  Prince 
del  Paradiso  was  heir  to  immense  estates," 
Milly  insisted. 

"  But  that  proves  nothing  in  her  own  case," 
Adelaide  admitted.  "  Some  day,  perhaps 
she  will  tell  us  more  about  herself,  since  she 
has  begun  to  open  her  heart  to  us." 

At  that  moment  the  door-bell  rang,  and  as 
the  princess  kept  no  servant,  Winnie  went  to 
the  door.  She  was  gone  a  long  time,  and 
came  back  looking  grave  and  distraught- 
giving  an  evasive  answer  when  we  asked 
her  who  had  called.  I  wondered  at  this 
because,  as  I  sat  nearest  the  door,  I  had  over- 
heard a  part  of  the  conversation,  and  knew 
that  it  referred  to  the  little  boy  who  was 
expected.  "  He  cannot  come,"  a  voice  had 
said  ;  "  he  has  a  situation  where  he  can  learn 
a  trade."  This  was  of  so  much  interest  to 


LITTLE  PRINCE  DEL  PARADISO.  87 

us  all  that  I  wondered  why  Winnie  did  not 
immediately  report  it. 

As  soon  as  we  returned  to  the  school  she 
obtained  an  interview  with  Madame,  and 
permission  to  see  Mrs.  Halsey  in  reference 
to  the  Celeste  situation ;  Madame  stipulat- 
ing that  she  must  not  ask  this  favor  for  a 
longtime,  as  she  did  not  like  to  have  her 
pupils  frequent  the  tenement  district.  I 
offered  to  go  with  Winnie,  and  was  sur- 
prised that  she  declined  my  company.  She 
returned  glowing  with  suppressed  excite- 
ment. 

"  Mrs.  Halsey  has  accepted  Madame 
Celeste's  offer,"  she  exclaimed  ;  "  she  leaves 
the  court  to-morrow,  let  us  hope  for  good 
and  all.  O  girls,  it  is  a  horrible  place !  I 
saw  worse  sights  than  when  I  was  there 
before." 

"  And  Jim  ?  "  we  asked. 

"  Jim  is  provided  for.  We  are  to  pay  three 
dollars  a  week  for  him  for  the  present,  until 
Mrs  Halsey  gets  on  her  feet." 

"  Did  she  find  a  good  place  for  him  ?  " 

"  An  excellent  place;  but  you  must  not 
ask  me  another  question,  and  if  any 
mysterious  circumstances  should  come  to 
your  observation  within  a  few  days,  you  are 


88  WITCH  WINNIE. 

not  to  say  a  thing",  or  even  look  surprised. 
Promise,  every  one  of  you." 

"  A  mystery  !  how  delightful  !"  exclaimed 
Milly.  "  It's  almost  as  good  as  the  little 
prince.  You  can  rely  on  us ;  we  will  help 
you,  Winnie,  whatever  it  is,  for  we  know  it's 
all  right  if  it's  your  doing." 

Emma  Jane  was  not  present,  and  I 
remarked  that,  while  the  rest  of  us  would 
believe  in  Winnie  without  understanding 
her,  and  even  in  spite  of  the  most  suspicious 
circumstances,  I  was  not  sure  that  we 
could  trust  Emma  Jane  so  far. 

"  Emma  Jane  will  see  nothing  to  suspect, 
and  Milly,  I  know,  will  stand  by  me.  It's  only 
you  two  that  I  am  afraid  of — Adelaide, 
because  she  has  seen  Jim  ;  am".  Tib,  from 
her  natural  smartness  in  smelling  o  t  a 
secret." 

"  Whatever  it  is,  Winnie,  we  believe  you 
could  never  do  anything  very  bad,"  said 
Adelaide. 

"But  I  have,"  Winnie  replied;  "some- 
thing just  reckless.  I'm  in  for  the  worst 
scrape  of  my  life,  and  just  as  I  was  trying 
so  hard  to  be  good.  I  shall  never  be  any- 
thing but  a  malefactor,  and  maybe  get 
expelled,  and  throw  the  dear  Amen  Corner 


LITTLE  PRINCE  DEL  PARADISO.  89 

into  disgrace.  I'd  better  have  staid  queen 
of  the  Hornets,  for  I  shall  be  nothing 
but  Witch  Winnie  to  the  end  of  the 
chapter." 


CHAPTER   VI. 


MRS.    HETTERMAN    THROWS    LIGHT    ON    THE 
MYSTERY. 

RS.  HETTER- 
MAN came  in- 
to our  life  in 
consequence  of 
a  train  of  troub- 
les which  arose 
in  the  board- 
ing-school from 
the  frequent 
change  of  the 
cook.  Madame 
had  been  serv- 
ed for  several 
years  by  a  faith- 
ful colored  man, 
who  had  suddenly  taken  it  into  his  head  to 
go  off  as  steward  on  a  gentleman's  yacht. 
She  had  supplied  his  place  by  a  Biddy,  who 

was  found  intoxicated  on  the  kitchen  floor. 

90 


LIGHT  ON  THE  MYSTERY.  9! 

A  woman  followed  who  turned  out  to  be  a 
thief,  and  we  were  now  enduring  an  incompe- 
tent creature  who  made  sour  bread  and  spoil- 
ed nearly  every  dish  which  passed  through 
her  hands.  Half  of  the  girls  were  suffer- 
ing with  dyspepsia,  and  all  were  grumbling. 
The  Amen  Corner  was  especially  out  of 
sorts.  Milly,  who  was  always  fastidious,  had 
eaten  nothing  but  maple-sugar  for  breakfast, 
and  had  a  sick  headache ;  Emma  Jane  was 
snappish  ;  Witch  Winnie  had  stolen  a  box  of 
crackers  from  the  pantry,  which  she  had 
passed  around.  Adelaide  and  I  had  regaled 
ourselves  upon  them,  but  Emma  Jane  had 
declined  on  high  moral  grounds,  and  was  vir- 
tuously miserable.  It  was  in  this  unchristian 
frame  of  mind,  or  rather  of  stomach,  that 
we  took  our  next  botany  lesson.  We  found 
the  princess  beaming  with  pleasure.  "  My 
tear  young  ladies,"  she  exclaimed,  "  you 
must  felicitate  me.  It  is  all  so  much  bet- 
ter as  I  had  hoped.  Ze  leetle  prince  has 
not  been  so  badly  elevated  after  all.  He 
haf  been  taught  to  be  kind  and  unselfish ; 
zat  is  already  ze  foundation  of  a  gentle- 
man." 

Miss  Prillwitz  had  occasion  to  leave  the 
room  a  few  minutes  later.     Adelaide  sniffed 


g  2  WITCH  WINNIE. 

the  air,  and  remarked,  "  Girls,  don't  you 
smell  something  very  nice  ?" 

"  It's  here  on  the  stand  in  the  corner,"  said 
Witch  Winnie,  lifting  a  napkin  which  cov- 
ered a  tray,  and  exclaiming,  "  Fish  balls ! 
Only  see  !  the  most  beautiful  brown  fish 
balls  !  " 

"  It's  the  remnants  of  their  breakfast ;  she 
has  forgotten  to  take  it  away,"  said  Adelaide. 
"  They  make  me  feel  positively  faint  with 
longing  ;  I  don't  believe  she  would  mind  if 
we  took  just  one." 

We  ate  of  the  dainties,  even  Emma  Jane 
yielding  to  temptation ;  they  were  delicious, 
and,  having  begun,  we  could  not  stop  until 
they  were  all  devoured.  Then  we  looked 
at  one  another  in  shame  and  dismay.  "  Who 
will  confess  ?  "  asked  Adelaide. 

"  You  ought  to  ;  you  put  us  up  to  it,"  said 
Emma  Jane  Anton. 

"  Let's  write  a  round-robin,"  I  suggested, 
"and  all  sign  it." 

"I'll  stand  it,"  said  Winnie.  "I  led  you 
into  temptation." 

A  step  was  heard  in  the  hall.  Winnie 
stepped  forward  and  began  to  speak  rap- 
idly ;  the  rest  of  us  looked  down  shame- 
facedly. 


LIGHT  ON  THE  MYSTERY,  93 

"  Miss  Prillwitz,  please  forgive  us  ;  we  were 
so  hungry  we  could  not  stand  it.  If  you 
knew  what  a  dreadful  breakfast  we  had  this 
morning,  I'm  sure  you  would  not  blame 
us—" 

But  she  was  interrupted  by  a  cry  of  dis- 
may— "  Oh  !  have  you  eaten  them  all  ?  I 
bought  them  for  Aunty." 

Looking  up,  we  saw  a  manly  little  boy 
with  an  expression  of  distress  on  his  frank 
features. 

Adelaide  uttered  a  sharp  exclamation.  I 
thought  she  said,  "  It's  him  !  "  and  yet  Ade- 
laide seldom  forgot  her  grammar.  Winnie 
drew  a  deep  breath,  and  caught  Adelaide  by 
the  arm.  The  boy  looked  up  from  the  empty 
platter  to  the  girls'  faces,  and  his  expression 
changed.  "  Oh  !  it's  you,"  he  said.  "  Well, 
no  matter,  only  I  meant  'em  for  a  present 
for  her — Miss  Prillwitz,  you  know.  She's 
no  end  good  to  me.  Mrs.  Hetterman,  down 
at  Rickett's  Court,  makes  'em  for  regular 
customers  every  Friday  morning.  They  are 
prime,  and  mother  gave  me  a  quarter  for 
pocket-money  this  month,  so  I  got  ten  cents' 
worth  for  Aunty  ;  she  lets  me  call  her  so.  I 
thought  she'd  like  'em,  and  it  would  patron- 
ize Mrs.  Hetterman,  and  show  her  I  hadn'i 


94 


WITCH  WINNIE. 


forgotten  old  friends,  if  I  had  moved  up  in 
the  world." 

"  Here's  ten  cents  to  get  some  more  from 
Mrs.  Hetterman,"  said  Adelaide,  "  and  may-. 
be  we  can  get  her  a  wholesale  order  to  fur- 
nish our  boarding-  -  school.  I'll  speak  to 
Madame  about  it  this  very  day." 

"  And  if  Madame  doesn't  order  them,  we 
girls  will  club  together  and  have  a  spread  of 
our  own,"  said  Winnie. 

Miss  Prillwitz  came  in  at  this  juncture,  and 
explanations  followed. 

"  If  Madame  is  in  such  trouble  in  regards 
of  a  cook,"  said  Miss  Prillwitz,  "  I  vill  write 
her  of  Mrs.  Hetterman,  and  perhaps  it  will 
be  to  them  both  a  providence.  Can  she 
make  ozzer  sings  as  ze  croquettes  of  cod- 
fish ?" 

"  Oh  yes,  indeed,"  the  little  prince  spoke 
up,  eagerly;  "  soup,  and  turnovers,  and  suck 
bread  !  She  gave  me  a  little  loaf  every  bak- 
ing while  mother  had  the  pneumonia.  Mr. 
Dooley,  the  butcher,  gave  me  a  marrow  bone 
every  Monday,  and  I  always  took  it  to  Mrs. 
Hetterman  to  make  into  soup.  It  made 
mother  sick  to  boil  it  in  our  little  room,  and 
Mrs.  Hetterman  would  make  a  kettle  of 
stock,  and  showed  me  how  to  keep  it  in  a 


LIGHT  ON  THE  MYSTERY. 


95 


crock  outside  the  window,  so  mother  could 
have  some  every  day  ;  it  was  what  kept 
mother's  strength  up  through  it  all.  We 
had  such  good  neighbors  at  the  court !  but 
Mrs.  Hetterman  was  best  of  all.  She  has 
five  children  of  her  own,  too.  Bill  is  a  mes- 
senger boy,  and  Jennie  works  in  a  feather 
factory.  Mary  is  a  cripple,  but  she  is  just 
lovely,  and  tidies  the  house,  and  takes  care 
of  the  two  little  ones.  Mr.  Hetterman  was 
a  plasterer  and  got  good  wages,  but  he  fell 
from  a  scaffolding  and  broke  his  leg,  and 
he's  at  the  hospital." 

"  And  does  Mrs.  Hetterman  support  the 
family  on  ze  croquettes  of  codfish  ?"  asked 
Miss  Prillwitz. 

"  She  scrubs  offices,  but  she  could  get  a 
place  as  cook  in  a  family  if  it  wasn't  for  the 
children."  He  looked  longingly  at  Miss 
Prillwitz  as  he  spoke,  but  she  did  not  seem 
to  notice  the  glance. 

"  Here,  mongar9on,  run  down  to  ze  court, 
and  tell  Mrs.  Hetterman  to  take  a  basket  of 
her  cookery  to  ze  boarding-school.  I  t'ink 
she  will  engage  to  herself  some  beesness." 

The  lesson  proceeded,  but  Adelaide  and 
Winnie  both  blundered  ;  they  were  evidently 
thinking  of  something  else. 


96  WITCH  WINNIE. 

A  change  came  over  Witch  Winnie  ;  she 
lost  her  old  reckless  gayety  and  became 
subdued  and  thoughtful.  The  Hornets 
said  she  was  studying  for  honors,  but  I 
knew  this  was  not  the  case,  for  her  les- 
sons were  not  as  well  prepared  as  for- 
merly. She  would  sit  for  long  periods  lost 
in  reverie.  Winnie  had  charge  of  the 
money  collected  for  Jim's  board.  She  re- 
ported, after  one  week,  that  his  mother  did 
not  need  as  much  ;  two  dollars  would  supply 
the  margin  between  what  was  required  and 
the  sum  she  was  able  to  pay.  None  of  us, 
with  the  exception  of  Adelaide,  knew  where 
Winnie  had  domiciled  Jim,  but  we  were  con- 
tent to  leave  the  matter  in  her  hands.  A 
week  later  Mrs.  Halsey  only  needed  one 
dollar.  Mrs.  Hetterman  was  engaged  as 
cook  for  the  boarding-school,  and  we  all  re- 
joiced in  the  change.  I  went  down  to  the 
kitchen  to  see  her,  one  afternoon,  and  found 
her  a  buxom  Englishwoman  who  dropped 
her  #s,  but  was  always  neat  and  civil.  She 
was  delighted  when  she  found  that  I  knew 
the  names  of  her  children.  "  It  was  a  little 
boy  who  used  to  live  in  your  court  who  told 
me  about  them,"  I  said,  "  and  who  introduced 
us  to  your  good  fish  balls." 


LIGHT  ON  THE  MYSTERY. 


97 


"  Oh  yes,  Miss,  I  mind  ;  it  was  little  Jim 
'Alsey ;  'e's  the  prince  of  fine  fellers,  'e  is." 

Jim  Halsey  the  prince !  My  head  fairly 
reeled,  and  yet  this  explained  many  things 
which  had  seemed  mysterious.  Winnie's 
agency  in  the  matter  was  still  not  entirely 
clear  to  me.  I  did  not  connect  her  remorse- 
ful remarks  about  another  scrape,  with  Jim, 
and  I  believed  that  by  some  remarkable 
coincidence  he  was  really  Miss  Prillwitz's 
little  prince  incognito.  I  wondered  whether 
Mrs.  Hetterman  knew  anything  of  his  real 
history,  but  she  preferred  to  talk  at  present 
about  her  own  family.  She  .  was  very 
happy  in  the  prospect  of  introducing  her 
oldest  daughter,  Jennie,  into  the  house  as  a 
waitress.  "  It  will  be  so  much  better  for 
Jennie,"  she  said,  "  than  the  feather  factory. 
The  hair  there  is  not  good  for  'er  lungs." 

I  did  not  understand,  at  first,  what  Mrs. 
Hetterman  meant  by  the  hair,  but  when  she 
explained  that  it  was  "the  hatmosphere,"  her 
meaning  dawned  upon  me. 

"  It  will  make  it  a  bit  lonelier  for  Mary  and 
the  little  ones,"  she  admitted,  "but  I  go 
down  every  night,  after  the  work's  over,  to 
tidy  them  up  and  to  see  that  hall's  right. 
The  court  is  not  a  fit  place  for  the  children. 

7 


98  WITCH  WINNIE. 

If  I  could  find  decent  lodgings  for  them, 
su-ch  as  Mrs.  'Alsey  'as  got  for  her  Jim  !  I 
think  I  could  pay  as  much,  if  the  place  was 
only  found  ;  I'm  'oping  something  will  turn 
hup,  Miss." 

"  I  hope  so,"  I  replied  ;  and  I  asked  Winnie 
that  afternoon  if  she  thought  the  person  who 
was  boarding  Jim  Halsey  would  take  the 
Hettermans,  but  she  utterly  discouraged  the 
idea. 

We  saw  a  good  deal  of  the  little  prince. 
Miss  Prillwitz  called  him  Giacomo,  and  was 
deeply  attached  to  him.  He  did  her  credit 
.  too,  for  he  was  docile  and  bright.  His 
mother  was  right  in  saying  that  he  inherited 
his  father's  facility  for  mathematics,  but  with 
this  faculty  he  possessed  also  a  love  for 
mechanics  and  for  machinery  of  every 
sort. 

"  He  will  make  one  good  engineer  some 
day,"  said  Miss  Prillwitz,  in  speaking  of  him 
to  us. 

"  That  is  a  strange  career  for  a  prince," 
said  Adelaide. 

"  My  tear,  it  may  be  many  year  before  he 
ees  call  to  his  princedom,  and  in  ze  means- 
time  he  muss  make  his  way.  Zen,  too,  ze  sons 
of  ze  royal  houses  make  such  study,  and  it 


LIGHT  ON  THE  MYSTERY.  99 

is  one  good  thing  for  ze  country  whose  prince 
interest  himself  in  ze  science." 

"  I  wonder  how  he  would*  like  to  study 
surveying  by  and  by,"  Adelaide  said.  "  I 
know  that  father  could  employ  him  in  the 
West." 

"  Zat  is  one  excellent  idea,"  said  Miss  Prill- 
witz.  "  We  will  see,  when  ze  time  s'all  arrive." 

We  were  all  fond  of  the  little  prince. 
After  all,  Miss  Prillwitz  had  decided  to  let 
him  attend  the  botany  lessons  on  Saturdays. 
"  If  he  s'all. be  one  surveyor  in  ze  West,"  she 
said,  "  he  s'all  have  opportunity  to  discover 
ze  new  species  of  flower ;  he  must  learn  all 
ze  natural  science." 

The  prince  attended  the  public  school  dur- 
ing the  week,  and  held  his  place  at  the  head 
of  his  class  with  ease.  It  was  not  hard  to  do 
so,  now  that  he  could  sleep  all  night.  Emma 
Jane,  who  had  had  her  spasms  of  doubt  in 
regard  to  him,  and  had  even  gone  so  far  at 
first  as  to  say  that  Miss  Prillwitz  was  a  crank, 
and  she  had  no  faith  in  the  boy's  nobility, 
had  been  won  over  by  the  boy  himself,  and 
remarked  one  afternoon  that  the  internal 
evidence  was  convincing ;  Giacomo  was  not 
like  common  children  ;  he  was  evidently  cast 
in  a  finer  mold;  he  would  do  honor  to  any 


1OO  WITCH  WINNIE. 

position  ;  birth  would  tell,  after  all.  It  was 
all  that  dear  Milly  could  do  not  to  betray 
the  secret  to  the  little  prince.  He  was  very 
fond  of  Milly,  but  deferential  and  unpresum- 
ing,  as  became  his  apparent  position.  "  Some 
day  our  places  may  be  reversed.  You  may 
live  in  a  beautiful  home  and  have  hosts  of 
friends,"  Milly  said  to  him.  "  Will  you 
remember  me  then,  Giacomo?" 

"  How  can  that  ever  be  ?"  the  boy  asked. 
"  You  will  grow  up  and  be  a  fine  rich  lady  ; 
I  will  be  a  poor  young  man  whom  you  will 
have  quite  forgotten." 

"  Not  necessarily  poor,"  Milly  hastened  to 
reply.  "  If  you  go  West  you  may,  by  working 
hard,  become  rich  and  famous.  Will  you  for- 
get your  old  friends  then?" 

And  Jim  promised  that  he  would  never, 
never  forget.  Then  a  shade  came  across  his 
face.  "  Maybe  I  will,  after  all,"  he  said,  "  for  I 
have  forgotten  Mary  Hetterman  for  more  than 
a  week.  I  did  not  think  I  could  be  so  mean." 

Adelaide  and  I  had  a  conference  in  regard 
to  the  prince.  It  seemed  that  she  had  recog- 
nized him  as  Jim  Halsey  from  the  first.  "  I 
have  been  wondering,"  she  said,  "  whether  it 
was  not  a  case  like  that  of  Little  Lord  Fauntle- 
roy,  and  whether  Mrs.  Halsey  could  not  be 


LIGHT  ON  THE  MYSTERY.  ioi 

proved  to  be  the  wife  of  a  prince,  but  I  see 
that  cannot  be  the  explanation  of  the  matter  ; 
and  I  have  concluded  that  Jim  is  her  adopted 
child.  She  must  have  taken  him,  when  she 
was  in  better  circumstances,  from  the  people 
who  brought  him  to  this  country  when  he 
was  a  very  little  fellow,  and  so  he  has  no 
recollection  of  any  other  home." 

"  She  always  spoke  of  him  as  her  very 
own,"  I  said,  "  and  seemed  fonder  of  him 
than  a  foster-mother  could  be.  It  will  be 
very  hard  for  her  to  part  with  him,  if  his 
real  relatives  claim  him." 

"  Not  if  he  goes  to  high  rank  and  great 
estates,"  said  Adelaide.  "  She  probably  had 
no  idea  of  his  noble  birth  when  she  adopted 
him  ;  and  it  just  proves  that  bread  cast  upon 
the  waters  returns,  for  he  will  probably  care 
for  her  right  royally,  when  he  comes  into  his 
own,  and  she  will  find  that  adopting  that 
boy  was  the  best  investment  she  ever  made 
in  her  life." 

Winnie  came  in  while  we  were  talking. 

"Why  didn't  you  tell  us,  Winnie,"  I  asked, 
"  that  Jim  Halsey  was  the  little  prince  ?  " 

"  It  did  not  seem  necessary,"  Winnie  re- 
plied, looking  unnecessarily  alarmed,  as  it 
seemed  to  me. 


IO2  WITCH  WINNIE. 

"  You  pay  his  board  directly  to  Miss  Prill- 
witz,  I  suppose  ?"  Adelaide  said. 

"  No,  I  give  it  to  his  mother,  and  she  sends 

o 

it  by  mail." 

"  Well,  I  don't  see  any  harm  in  letting  Miss 
Prilhvitz  know  that  we  know  his  mother, 
and  are  helping  in  his  support." 

"  I  do,  and  I  wish  you  would  not  tell  her 
this,"  Winnie  entreated. 

"  Just  as  you  please,"  Adelaide  replied, 
"  but  I  hate  mysteries." 

"  So  do  I,"  said  Winnie,  with  a  deep  sigh. 

"  What  is  the  matter  with  you,  any  way, 
Winnie  ? "  Adelaide  asked. 

"  That  is  my  business,"  Winnie  replied, 
shortly,  and  left  the  room,  banging  the  door 
behind  her. 

"  Winnie  isn't  half  as  jolly  as  she  used  to 
be,"  said  Milly,  in  an  injured  tone.  "I  al- 
ways depend  on  her  to  save  me  when  I'm 
not  prepared  for  recitation.  When  Profes- 
sor Todd  was  coming  down  the  line  in  the 
Virgil  class  and  was  only  two  girls  away 
from  me,  I  made  the  most  beseeching  faces 
at  Winnie,  who  sits  opposite,  and  usually 
she  is  so  quick  to  take  the  hint,  and  come  to 
the  rescue  by  asking  Professor  Todd  a  lot 
of  questions  about  the  sites  of  the  ancient 


LIGHT  ON  THE  MYST£J?Y.  103 

cities,  and  where  he  thinks  the  Hesperides 
were  situated.  She  gets  him  to  talking-  on 
his  pet  hobbies,  and  he  proses  on  like  an  old 
dear,  until  the  bell  rings  for  change  of  class. 
But  this  time  she  just  stared  at  me  in  the 
most  wall-eyed  manner,  while  I  signaled 
her  in  a  perfect  agony  as  he  got  nearer  and 
nearer.  I  tried  to  think  of  some  question  of 
my  own  to  ask  him,  and  suddenly  one 
popped  into  my  head  which  I  thought  was 
very  bright.  He  had  just  been  talking  about 
^Eneas'  shipwreck,  and  he  referred  to  St. 
Paul's,  with  a  description  of  the  ancient 
vessels,  and  how  he  met  the  same  Mediter- 
ranean storms,  and  I  plucked  up  courage  and 
said,  '  Professor  Todd,  why  is  it  that  we 
hear  so  much  about  Virginia,  and  in  all  the 
pictures  of  the  shipwreck  we  see  her  stand- 
ing on  the  deck  of  the  ship,  and  Paul  rush- 
ing out  into  the  surf  to  rescue  her  ?  Now  I 
have  read  the  chapter  in  Acts  which  describes 
St.  Paul's  shipwreck,  very  carefully,  and  in 
that,  and  in  all  the  history  of  Paul,  there  is 
not  one  word  about  Virginia.' 

"You  should  have  heard  the  girls  shout;  I 
think  they  were  just  as  mean  as  they  could 
be.  That  odious  Cynthia  Vaughn  nearly 
fell  off  the  bench,  and  Professor  Todd  looked 


IO4  WITCH  WINNIE. 

at  me  in  such  a  despairing  way,  as  though 
he  gave  me  up  from  that  time  forth.  I  just 
burst  into  tears,  and  Winnie  came  over  and 
took  me  out  of  the  room.  She  acknowl- 
edged that  it  was  all  her  fault,  and  that 
she  ought  to  have  come  to  my  rescue 
sooner." 

Poor  Milly  !  we  could  only  comfort  her 
with  our  assurances  that  we  loved  her  all 
the  more  for  her  troubles. 

Summer  was  approaching,  and  we  were 
making  our  plans  for  vacation.  Milly's 
mother  had  invited  Adelaide  to  spend  the 
season  with  them  at  their  cottage  at  Narra- 
gansett  Pier ;  and  Winnie's  father  had  con- 
sented to  her  spending  June  and  July  with 
me  on  our  Long  Island  farm.  Winnie 
cheered  up  somewhat  at  the  prospect.  "  It's 
the  warm  weather  which  makes  me  feel 
muggy,"  she  said;  "  I  shall  feel  better  when 
we  get  out  of  the  city 'too.  Trfe  noise  and 
racket  distract  me,  and  seeing  so  many 
miserable  people  makes  me  miserable  and 
sick  at  heart." 

"  I  don't  feel  so  at  all,"  I  replied.  "  It 
makes  me  happy  to  see  how  much  good 
even  we  can  do.  Mrs.  Halsey  would  not 
have  obtained  her  situation  with  Madame 


LIGHT  OAT  THE  MYSTERY.  105 

Celeste  but  for  us,  or  have  been  able  to 
place  Jim  with  Miss  Prillwitz." 

Winnie  winced.  "  Don't  talk  about  them  ; 
I  am  sijk  and  tired  of  hearing  about  the 
little  prince.  Do  you  know,  I  don't  believe 
he  is  a  prince  at  all !  " 

"  What  !  Do  you  imagine  that  this  story 
of  Miss  Prillwitz's  is  only  a  fabrication  ?  " 

"  Perhaps  so,  or  at  least  a  hallucination  on 
her  part ;  and  even  if  it  is  all  true  Jim  may 
not  be  the  boy.  I  wonder  what  proof  she 
has  of  his  identity,  or  whether  she  has  writ- 
ten yet  to  his  relatives.  I  mean  to  ask  her 
— this  very  day." 

But  Winnie  did  nothing  of  the  kind,  for 
we  were  surprised  on  arriving  at  Miss  Prill- 
witz's to  find  three  new  children  sitting  in 
the  broad  window-seats.  One  was  a  thin 
girl  with  crutches,  whom  I  at  once  guessed 
must  be  Mary  Hetterman ;  two  chubby, 
freckle-faced  little  ones  sat  in  the  sunshine 
looking  over  a  picture-book  together,  while 
Miss  Prillwitz  beamed  upon  them. 

"  My  tears,"  she  said,  "  you  see  I  haf  some 
more  companie.  Giacomo  haf  brought 
these  small  people  to  spend  ze  day." 

Jim  came  in  a  little  later,  and  introduced 
his  friends.  He  was  flushed  and  excited. 


io6  WITCH  WINNIE. 

and  it  presently  appeared  that  the  visit  was 
a  part  of  a  deep-laid  scheme  of  his  own. 

"  I  wanted  you  to  know  the  Hettermans," 
he  said,  "  because  they  are  such  nice  children, 
and  Rickett's  Court  is  no  place  for  them,  for 
the  family  next  door  have  the  fever,  and 
Mr.  Grogan  has  the  tremens,  and  scares  them 
most  to  death.  Mrs.  Hetterman  gets  twenty 
dollars  a  month  as  cook  now,  and  she  says 
she  can  pay  a  dollar  a  week  apiece  for  each 
of  the  children  if  she  can  board  them 
where  it  is  healthful  and  decent;  and  you 
young  ladies  were  so  kind  as  to  help  my 
mother  at  first,  and  now,  as  she  don't  need  it 
any  longer,  maybe  you  would  help  the  Het- 
termans, and  then  maybe  Aunty  would  take 
them  in.  Mary  is  very  handy,  for  all  she's  a 
cripple,  and  the  babies'  noise  is  just  nothing 
but  a  pleasure,  and — "  here  the  tears  stood 
in  his  eyes,  and  he  looked  at  Miss  Prillwitz, 
who  was  frozen  stiff  with  astonishment,  with 
piteous  appealing — "  and  I  would  eat  just 
as  little  as  I  could." 

The  good  woman's  voice  trembled,  "  Take 
ze  children  to  play  in  ze  park,"  she  said  ;  "  ze 
young  ladies  and  I,  we  talk  it  some  over." 

Mary  Hetterman  tied  the  children's  hoods 
on  with  cheerful  alacrity.  She  evidently 


LIGHT  ON  THE  MYSTERY.  1 07 

had  high  hopes,  while  Jim  threw  his  arms 
around  Miss  Prillwitz — "  Aunty,"  he  said, 
"  they  deserve  that  you  should  be  kind  to 
them  more  than  1  do." 

"  What  reason  is  zere  that  I  should  take 
them  in  more  as  all  ze  uzzer  children  in  ze 
court  ? " 

"  Just  as  much  reason  as  for  you  to  take 
me,"  replied  the  boy,  running  away. 

"  Bless  his  heart ! "  said  Miss  Prillwitz,  as  he 
closed  the  door  ;  "  he  knows  not  ze  reason  zat 
draw  me  to  him,  ze  cherubim.  But  I  did 
not  know  you  to  help  his  muzzer  until  now." 

Adelaide  explained  matters,  and  the  case 
of  the  Hettermans  was  discussed,  Miss 
Prillwitz  agreeing  to  take  them  in  if  we 
would  assist  in  their  support.  "  I  shall  leaf 
zem  in  my  apartement  for  ze  summer,"  she 
said,  "  for  it  is  necessaire  to  me  zat  I  go  ze 
shore  of  ze  sea,  and  I  s'all  take  Giacomo 
with  me,  for  I  cannot  bear  to  separate  myself 
of  him.  Zis  is  so  near  to  your  school  zat 
Mrs.  Hetterman  can  sleep  her  nights  here. 
But  I  have  not  decided  to  myself  where  I 
shall  repose  myself  for  ze  summer." 

I  spoke  up  quickly,  referring  her  to  Miss 
Sartoris  for  the  beauties  of  our  part  of  Long 
Island  and  for  mother's  low  price  for  board. 


IO8  WITCH  WINNIE. 

Miss  Prillwitz  was  evidently  pleasantly  im- 
pressed. She  thought  she  would  like  to  study 
the  seaweed  of  that  part  of  the  coast,  and 
when  she  heard  of  the  lighthouse,  against 
which  the  birds  of  passage  dashed  them- 
selves, and  how  the  keeper  had  kept  their 
skins,  waiting  for  some  one  to  come  that 
way  and  teach  him  to  stuff  them,  she  was 
quite  decided  in  our  favor. 

I  noticed  that  Winnie  grew  suddenly  si- 
lent. As  we  left  the  house  she  pinched  me 
softly.  "  You  didn't  mean  any  harm,  Tib," 
she  said,  "  but  if  they  go,  it  will  take  every 
bit  of  pleasure  out  of  my  summer." 


CHAPTER    VII. 

WINNIE'S  CONFESSION. 

)ILHELM       KALB- 
FLEISCH,  the  but- 
cher's boy,  was  one 
of  the  most  uninteresting 
specimens    of    humanity 
that    I    have    ever   seen. 
That  any  of  us  would  ever 
give  him  even  a  passing 
glance  seemed  quite  be- 
yond the  range  of  proba- 
bility, and   yet  Wilhelm's 
stolid,  good-natured   face 
haunted  Winnie's  dreams 
like  a  very  Nemesis,  and 
came    to    acquire  a  new 
and  singular  interest  even 
in  my  own  mind. 
We  passed  a  little  Catholic  church  on  our 
way  to  the  boarding-school. 

"We  are  early,"  said  Winnie.  "Let's  go  in." 

109 


HO  WITCH  WINNIE. 

It  was  Lent,  and  the  altar  was  shrouded 
in  black,  and  only  a  few  candles  burning 
dimly.  We  stood  beside  a  carved  confes- 
sional. A  muffled  murmur  came  from  the 
interior,  and  the  red  curtains  pulsated  as 
though  in  time  to  sobs. 

"  Let  us  go  out,"  whispered  Milly  ;  "  I  am 
stifling." 

She  looked  so  white  that  I  was  really 
afraid  she  was  going  to  faint.  "  I  feel  bet- 
ter," she  gasped,  when  we  reached  the  open 
air. 

"  It  was  frightfully  close,"  Winnie  said, 
"and  the  air  was  heavy  with  incense." 

"  It  was  not  thai,"  said  Milly,  "  it  was  the 
thought  of  it  all  ;  that  there  was  a  poor 
woman  in  that  confessional  telling  all  her 
sins  to  a  priest.  I  never  could  do  it  in  the 
world." 

"  It  would  be  a  comfort  to  me,"  said  Winnie, 
fiercely.  "  I  only  wish  there  was  some  one 
with  authority,  to  whom  I  could  confess  my 
sins,  that  I  might  get  rid  of  the  responsibil- 
ity of  them." 

'There  is,"  I  said,  before  I  thought;  "  '  He 
hath  borne  our  griefs  and  carried  our  sor- 
rows.'" 

Winnie    gave   me    a -quick   look.      "You 


WINNIE'S   CONFESSION.  \\\ 

don't  usually  preach,  Tib,"  she  said,  and 
burst  into  a  merry  round  of  stories  and 
jokes,  which  convulsed  the  other  girls,  but 
did  not  in  the  least  deceive  me.  I  could  see 
that  she  was  troubled,  and  was  trying  to 
carry  it  off  by  riding  her  high  horse.  "  Girls," 
she  said,  "  I  want  you  to  come  around  to  the 
butcher's  with  me.  They  have  such  funny 
little  beasts  in  the  window.  I  mean  to  get 
one,  and  the  butcher's  boy,  Wilhelm,  is  such 
a  princely  creature — just  my  beau  id&al — I 
want  you  to  see  him." 

The  funny  little  beasts  proved  to  be  forms 
of  head-cheese  in  fancy  shapes.  Strange 
roosters  and  ducks,  with  plumage  of  gayly 
colored  sugar  icing,  and  animals  of  un- 
couth forms  and  colors.  Winnie  bought  a 
small  pig  with  a  blue  nose  and  green  tail, 
all  the  while  bombarding  the  butcher's  boy, 
who  was  a  particularly  stupid  specimen,  with 
keen  questions  and  witty  sallies.  He  was  so 
very  obtuse  that  he  did  not  even  see  that  she 
was  making  sport  of  him. 

As  we  hurried  home  to  make  up  for  our 
little  escapade,  Winnie  amused  us  all  by 
asking  us  how  we  thought  Wilhelm  would 
grace  a  princely  station.  "Just  imagine,  for  an 
instant,  that  he  was  the  lost  Prince  Para- 


112  WITCH  WINNIE. 

diso  !  What  a  figure  he  would  cut  in  chain 
armor,  or  in  a  court  costume  of  velvet  and 
jewels  !  Did  you  notice  the  elegance  of  his 
manners  and  the  brilliancy  of  his  wit-  ?" 

"  Winnie,  Winnie,  have  you  gone  wild  ?" 
Adelaide  asked.  "  Why  do  you  make  such 
sport  of  the  poor  fellow  ?  He  is  well  enough 
where  he  is,  I  am  sure." 

"  Is  he  not  ?"  Winnie  replied,  a  little  more 
soberly  ;  "  I  was  only  thinking  what  a  mercy 
it  is  that  people  are  so  well  fitted  for  their 
stations  in  life  by  nature.  Now,  think  of  Jim 
as  a  butcher,  growing  up  to  chop  sausage- 
meat  and  skewer  roasts  !  " 

"  Jim  never  could  be  a  butcher,"  Adelaide 
replied  ;  "  even  if  Miss  Prillwitz's  dreams  do 
not  come  true,  the  education  she  is  giving 
him  will  do  no  harm.  He  will  carve  a  future 
for  himself." 

We  went  into  the  house,  and  the  subject 
was  dropped.  The  next  morning  a  message 
came  from  Miss  Prillwitz  that  one  of  the 
Hetterman  children  was  sick.  It  was  the 
fever,  contracted  in  their  old  home,  and  we 
were  told  that  our  botany  lessons  must  be 
interrupted  for  the  present.  We  heard 
through  Mrs.  Hetterman  that  the  child  was 
not  very  sick.  It  was  one  of  the  chubby  lit- 


WINNIE'S  CONFESSION. 


tie  ones  that  had  looked  so  well.  She  was 
quarantined  now  in  Jim's  room,  the  green  one 
up  under  the  roof,  and  had  a  trained  nurse 
to  care  for  her.  Mrs.  Hetterman  did  not  see 
the  child,  but  talked  with  her  daughter  Mary 
in  the  basement  every  evening  She  thought 
it  was  a  great  mercy  that  they  had  com- 
pleted their  moving  before  the  child  was 
taken  sick.  This  did  not  seem  to  me  to  be 
exactly  generous  to  Miss  Prillwitz,  but  I 
could  not  blame  the  mother  for  the  feeling, 
for  under  the  careful  treatment  the  child 
speedily  weathered  the  storm,  and  came  out 
looking  only  a  little  paler  for  the  confine- 
ment. We  were  expecting  a  summons  to 
return  to  our  lessons,  when  Mrs.  Hetterman 
told  us  that  Jim  was  sick.  We  were  not 
greatly  alarmed,  for  the  little  girl's  illness 
had  been  so  slight  that  we  fancied  we  would 
see  our  favorite  about  in  a  fortnight. 

Milly  sent  in  baskets  of  white  grapes  and 
flowers,  and  Adelaide  carried  over  a  beauti- 
ful set  of  photographs  of  Italian  architec- 
ture. "  It  may  amuse  him  to  look  them 
over,"  she  said,  "and  it  is  just  possible  that 
his  ancestral  palace  figures  among  them." 

Adelaide  hoped  to  go  to  Europe  as  soon 
as  she  graduated.  "  If  Jim  is  established  in 


114  WITCH  WINNIE. 

his  rights  by  that  time,  I  shall  visit  him,"  she 
said,  "  so,  you  see,  I  am  only  mercenary  in  my 
attentions  to  him  now." 

Winnie  looked  up  indignantly,  "  Then 
you  deserve  to  be  disappointed." 

Adelaide  laughed  merrily.  "  I  thought 
you  knew  me  well  enough,  Winnie,  to  tell 
when  I  am  in  fun.  I  like  Jim  so  much,  per- 
sonally, that  I  would  do  as  much  for  him  if 
he  had  no  great  expectations  ;  but  I  do  not 
see  that  there  is  any  harm  in  thinking  of  the 
kindnesses  which  he  may  be  able  to  do  me." 

"  If  you  don't  count  too  surely  on  them. 
Miss  Prillwitz  has  had  time  to  notify  his  rela- 
tives, and  they  do  not  seem  to  take  any  in- 
terest in  him." 

It  is  the  unexpected  that  always  happens. 
That  very  evening  Mrs.  Hetterman  brought 
us  this  note  from  Miss  Prillwitz.  She  wrote 
better  than  she  spoke,  for  on  paper  there  was 
no  opportunity  for  the  foreign  accent  to 
betray  itself : 

"  MY  DEAR  YOUNG   LADIES: 

"  The  elder  brother  have  arrived,  and  I 
fear  you  will  have  no  more  opportunity  to 
see  little  Giacomo,  for  I  think  he  will  take 
him  away  very  shortly  to  his  father's  house. 

"  You  must  not  be  too  sorry,  but  think  what 


WINNIE'S   CONFESSION.  115 

a  so  great  thing  this  is  for  poor  little  Gia- 
como,  to  be  called  so  soon  to  his  beautiful 
estate ;  no  more  poorness  or  trouble,  in  the 
palace  of  the  King.  Giacomo  desire  me  to 
thank  you  for  all  you  kindness  to  him.  He 
hope  some  time  you  will  all  come  to  him  at 
his  beautiful  country  of  everlasting  spring- 
time, and  the  elder  brother  invite  you  also. 
Mrs.  Halsey  is  here.  She  is  much  troubled. 
She  forget  that  Giacomo  was  not  her  very  own, 
and  the  pain  of  parting  from  him  is  great. 
She  can  not  rightly  think  of  the  good  for- 
tune it  is  to  him.  She  wish  to  go  with  him, 
but  that  is  not  possible  for  now.  Giacomo 
hope  you  will  comfort  her.  He  hope,  too,  we 
will  continue  our  care  to  the  children  Het- 
terman.  Come  not  to-night,  dear  young 
ladies,  to  bid  him  farewells  ;  I  fear  you  to 
cry,  and  so  to  trouble  his  happiness. 
"  Your  at  all  times  loving  teacher, 

"  CELESTINE  PRILLWITZ." 

"  The  idea  of  our  crying,  like  so  many 
babies  !"  said  Emma  Jane  Anton;  "why,  it's 
the  best  thing  that  possibly  could  happen  to 
him,  and  I,  for  one,  shall  congratulate  him 
heartily. 

"  I  suppose  so,"  Milly  assented,  doubtfully, 
"  but  I  shall  miss  him  awfully,  he  is  such  a 
nice  little  fellow." 

"  So    much  the    better,"    said    Adelaide  ; 


I  1 6  WITCH  WINNIE. 

"  how  glad  the  prince  must  be  to  find  that 
his  little  brother  is  really  presentable.  As 
Winnie  was  saying,  '  Fancy  his  feelings  if 
he  had  found  him  a  coarse,  common  crea- 
ture like  Wilhelm,  the  butcher's  boy !' 
And  now,  Winnie,  what  do  you  say  to  my 
being  too  sure  about  visiting  him  some  day  ? 
Here  is  the  invitation  from  the  prince  him- 
self. I  wonder  just  where  in  Italy  they 
live ! " 

So  the  girls  chatted  all  together,  but  Win- 
nie was  strangely  silent. 

"  I  ought  to  see  Miss  Prillwitz  at  once," 
she  exclaimed,  suddenly. 

"  It's  too  late,  now,"  replied  Emma  Jane  ; 
"  there !  the  retiring-bell  is  ringing,  and  if 
you  look  across  the  square  you  can  see  that 
Miss  Prillwitz's  lights  are  all  out  ;  besides, 
she  particularly  requested  us  not  to  come  un- 
til morning." 

"  Then  I  must  run  over  before  breakfast," 
said  Winnie,  "  for  it  is  very  important." 

She  set  a  little  alarm-clock  for  an  hour  ear- 
lier than  our  usual  waking-time  ;  but  she  was 
unable  to  sleep,  and  her  restlessness  kept  me 
awake  also.  She  tossed  from  side  to  side, 
and  moaned  to  herself,  and  at  last  I  heard 
her  say,  "  Oh  !  what  wouldn't  I  give  if  some 


WINNIE'S  CONFESSION.  117 

one  would  only  show  me  the  best  way  out 
of  it." 

"Winnie,"  I  said,  softly,  "  I  am  not  asleep. 
What  is  the  matter  ?     Are  you  in  trouble  ?" 
"  Yes,  Tib." 

"  Do  you  need  money  ?" 
"  No." 

"  Are  you  in  love  ?  " 
"The  idea  !     A  thousand  times  no." 
"  Are  you  going  to  be  expelled  ?  " 
"  Not  unless  I  tell  on  myself  ;  perhaps  not 
even  then.     But  oh,  Tib,  I  told  you  I  was  in 
for   a   scrape.     I    thought  I  could   stick    it 
through,  but   it's  worse    than    I  thought.     I 
can't  keep  the  secret ;  I've  got  to  tell." 
"  I  would,  and  then  you'll  feel  better." 
"  No,    I    will    not,    for    telling    will    not 
do  any  good.     I'm  not  sure  but  it  will  do 
harm." 

"  You  poor  child,  what  can  it  be  ?  " 
"  Just  this — Jim  is  not  the  prince." 
"  I  don't  see  how  you  know  that,  or,  if  you 
do,  what  business  it  is  of  yours." 

"  Because  I  deceived  Miss  Prillwitz,  and 
got  Jim  in  there  by  making  her  think  he  was 
the  boy  she  had  heard  about,  while  the  real 
boy  is  somewhere  else.  I've  got  to  tell  her 
before  his  friends  take  him  away,  and  be- 


I  1 8  WITCH  WINNIE. 

fore  that  other  boy  disappears  from  view 
entirely." 

"  That  is  really  dreadful,  but  if  you  know 
where  the  true  prince  is,  it  can't  be  quite  ir- 
reparable. What  ever  made  you  do  such  a 
thing  ?  and  how  did  you  manage  to  do  it  ?  " 

"  Why,  you  see,  I  hadn't  any  faith  in  this 
story  of  a  lost  prince  at  all.  I  thought  that 
Miss  Prillwitz  was  just  a  little  bit  of  a  crank, 
who  had  been  imposed  on  by  designing  peo- 
ple, and  I  was  sure,  when  I  saw  the  woman 
at  the  door  who  came  to  tell  Miss  Prillwitz 
that  her  boy  had  a  situation  and  could  not 
come,  that  she  had  been  in  league  with  the 
person  who  had  told  Miss  Prillwitz  about 
the  lost  prince,  but  had  backed  out  of  the  plot 
because  she  was  afraid.  Miss  Prillwitz  had 
evidently  not  suspected  that  she  knew  any- 
thing of  the  boy's  supposed  expectations,  for 
she  had  merely  promised  to  take  him  to  board, 
teach,  and  clothe,  for  whatever  the  mother 
could  give  her,  the  woman  having  said  that 
she  was  going  into  a  family  as  German 
nursery  governess,  and  agreeing  to  send  a 
trifle  toward  her  boy's  support  whenever 
she  received  her  salary.  It  was  just  the 
time  that  Mrs.  Halsey  was  looking  for  a 
place  for  Jim.  It  was  so  easy  to  have  him 


WINNIE'S  CONFESSION.  1 19 

come  at  the  time  agreed  upon  and 
take  the  place  of  the  other  boy.  I  was 
afraid,  at  first,  that  Miss  Prillwitz  would  be 
surprised  by  the  regularity  of  our  pay- 
ments and  the  amount  we  sent,  but  she 
didn't  seem  to  suspect  anything,  and  she 
is  so  fond  of  him,  and  he  deserves  it  all — 
and  everything  worked  so  well  up  to  the 
coming  of  the  prince." 

"  But,  Winnie,  why  didn't  you  tell  her  the 
whole  story  at  first  ?  I  think  she  would  have 
taken  him,  all  the  same,  and  then  you  would 
not  have  got  things  into  this  awful  mud- 
dle." 

"  Indeed  she  would  not  have  taken  him,  a 
mere  pauper  out  of  the  slums,  unless  she 
had  thought  that  he  was  something  more. 
She  is  a  born  aristocrat,  and  she  never  could 
have  taken  Jim  to  her  heart  so  if  she  had 
not  believed  that  he  was  of  her  own  class — 
of  her  family,  even.  Why,  even  Adelaide 
would  never  have  seen  half  the  fine  quali- 
ties in  him  which  she  thinks  she  has  dis- 
covered if  she  had  not  thought  him  a 
noble  ;  and  it  has  thrown  a  fine  halo  of  ro- 
mance over  him  for  Milly ;  and  even  Emma 
Jane,  who  was  hard  to  convince  at  first,  is 
firmly  persuaded  that  he  is  made  of  a  little 


I  20  WITCH  WINNIE. 

finer  clay  .than  the  rest  of  us.  And  you,  Tib, 
confess  that  you  are  disappointed  yourself." 

"  I  am  bitterly  disappointed,"  I  admitted; 
"  but  that  is  nothing  to  the  extent  that  Miss 
Prillwitz  will  feel  it.  I  wouldn't  be  in  your 
shoes,  Winnie,  for  anything." 

"  I  know  it  ;  I  know  it.  I  have  been 
wicked,  but  I  had  no  idea  that  the  family 
would  ever  look  him  up.  I  hardly  believed 
the  story  that  there  had  been  any  prince  lost. 
And,  Tib,  if  there  had  not  been,  where  would 
have  been  the  harm  in  what  I  did  ?  " 

"  It  would  have  been  wrong,  all  the  same, 
Winnie,  even  if  it  had  seemed  to  turn  out 
well.  Deception  is  always  wrong,  and  I  did 
not  think  it  of  you.  But  there,  don't  sob  so, 
or  you  will  make  yourself  sick,  and  you 
need  all  your  wits  and  strength  to  carry  you 
through  the  ordeal  of  setting  things  straight 
to-morrow.  I'll  stand  by  you.  I'll  go  with 
you  if  it  will  be  any  help." 

"  No,  you  shall  not ;  Miss  Prillwitz  might 
think  you  were  implicated  in  the  affair.  The 
fault  was  all  mine,  and  I  will  not  have  any  one 
else  share  the  blame;  only  be  on  hand  at  the 
door,  Tib,  with  an  ambulance  to  carry  away 
the  remnants,  for  I  shall  be  all  broken  into 
smithereens  by  the  interview." 


WINNIE'S  CONFESSION.  121 

I  tried  to  soothe  the  excited  girl,  and 
fancied  that  she  had  fallen  asleep,  when  she 
suddenly  began  to  laugh  hysterically. 

"  I  haven't  told  you  who  the  real  prince 
is,"  she  said.  "Aren't  you  curious  to  know?" 

"  Have  I  ever  met  him  ?" 

"  Yes,  indeed  ;  it's  Wilhelm  the  butcher's 
boy." 

"  Impossible  !  " 

"  Isn't  it  too  absurd  for  anything  ?  That 
was  the  situation  which  his  mother,  or  foster- 
mother,  preferred  to  Miss  Prillwitz's  care. 
What  will  Adelaide  say  now  about  blue 
blood  telling  even  in  low  circumstances  ? 
There  is  blood  enough  about  Wilhelm  if  that 
is  all  that  is  desired.  And  won't  that  foreign 
prince  be  just  raving  when  he  is  introduced 
to  his  long  -  lost  brother !  But  poor  Miss 
Prillwitz  ! — that's  the  worst  of  all.  No  doubt 
she  has  been  writing  with  pride  and  delight 
the  most  glowing  letters  in  reference  to 
Jim's  fitness  for  his  high  position.  How 
chagrined  and  mortified  the  dear  old  lady 
will  be  !  Tell  me  now,  Tib,  that  things  were 
not  better  as  I  managed  them." 

"  It  does  seem  as  if  there  must  be  a  mis- 
take somewhere.  Still,  the  truth  is  the  truth, 
and  I  believe  in  telling  it,  even  if  the 


122  WITCH  WINNIE. 

Heavens  fall.  This  matter  is  all  in  the  hands 
of  Providence,  Winnie,  and  I  believe  you  got 
into  trouble  simply  by  thinking  that  you 
knew  better  than  Providence,  and  that  the 
world  could  not  move  on  without  you." 

"  I  must  say  you  are  rather  hard  on  me, 
Tib,  but  perhaps  you  are  right.  Do  you 
suppose  that  if  I  hand  the  tangle  I  have 
made  right  to  God,  he  will  take  it  from  my 
hands  and  straighten  it  out  for  me  ?  I  should 
think  He  would  have  nothing  more  to  do 
with  it,  or  with  me." 

"  That  is  not  the  way  our  mothers  behave 
when  we  get  our  work  into  a  snarl." 

This  last  remark  comforted  her.  She  laid 
her  head  upon  my  shoulder  and  prayed  : 

"  Dear  Heavenly  Father,  I  have  done 
wrong,  and  everything  has  gone  wrong. 
Help  me  henceforth  to  do  right,  and  wilt 
Thou  make  everything  turn  out  right.  For 
thy  dear  Son's  sake,  I  ask  it.  Amen." 

Then  trustfully  she  fell  asleep,  her  con- 
science relieved  of  a  great  weight,  and  with 
faith  in  a  power  beyond  her  own. 


CHAPTER   Vm. 


THE    ELDER    BROTHER    AND    MRS.    HALSEY  S 
STRANGE    STORY. 

OTWITHSTAND- 
ING  Winnie's  pro- 
testations to  the 
contrary,  I  insist- 
ed on  going  with 
her  the  next  morn- 
ing when  she  went 
to  make  her  con- 
fession. 

The  little  alarm- 
clock    made    its 
^^  usual  racket,    but 
Winnie    slept 
peacefully,    and  I 
was    dressed    be- 
fore I  could  make 
up    my    mind    to 
waken  her.     But  I  knew  how  disappointed 

she  would  be  if  she  could   not  make  her  call 

123 


I  24  WITCH  WINNIE. 

on  Miss  Prillwitz  before  breakfast,  and  I 
wakened  her  with  a  kiss,  and  made  her  a 
cup  of  coffee  over  the  gas  while  she  was 
dressing.  Then  we  put  on  our  ulsters  and 
hoods,  and  slipped  out  of  the  house  just  as 
the  rising-bell  was  ringing. 

We  knew  that  Miss  Prillwitz  was  habitu- 
ally an  early  riser,  or  we  would  not  have 
planned  to  call  at  such  an  hour,  but  we  were 
surprised  to  find  a  cab  standing  before  her 
door. 

"  I  wonder  whether  the  prince  and  Jim  are 
just  about  to  leave,"  Winnie  exclaimed.  "  I 
did  not  know  that  any  of  the  ocean  steamers 
sailed  so  early  in  the  morning.  What  if 
they  have  gone  and  we  are  too  late ! " 

Something  was  the  matter  with  the  door- 
bell, and  just  as  we  were  'about  to  knock, 
the  door  opened  and  a  stout  gentleman 
came  down  the  steps,  and  drove  away  in 
the  carriage.  Jim  was  not  with  him,  and 
Miss  Prillwitz  stood  inside  the  door. 

Winnie  caught  her  arm  and  asked,  "  Was 
that  the  prince,  the  elder  brother  ?  " 

"  No,  tear,"  said  Miss  Prillwitz,  gravely. 
"  Why  haf  you  come,  when  I  write  you  you 
must  not  ?  " 

"  Oh  Miss  Prillwitz,  it  was  because  I  have 


MRS.  HALSEY'S  STRANGE  STORY.  125 

something  so  particular,  so  important,  to  tell 
you.  Do  not  tell  me  that  Jim  has  gone,  and 
that  it  is  too  late  !  " 

"  No,  tear,  Giacomo  haf  not  gone  already. 
I  think  ze  elder  brother  take  him  very  soon, 
and  we  keep  our  little  Giacomo  not  one  lee- 
tie  longer.  Go  in  ze  park  by  ze  bench  and 
I  vill  come  and  talk  zare  wiz  you." 

We  wondered  at  her  unwillingness  to  let 
us  in,  but  obeyed  her  directions,  and  pres- 
ently she  came  out  to  us  with  a  shawl 
thrown  about  her  and  a  knitted  boa  outside 
her  cap.  Even  then  she  did  not  sit  near  us, 
but  on  a  bench  at  a  little  distance,  having 
first  noted  carefully  that  the  wind  blew 
from  our  direction  toward  her.  All  this 
might  have  seemed  strange  to  us  had  we 
not  been  so  thoroughly  absorbed  in  what 
Winnie  was  about  to  say.  The  poor  child 
blundered  into  her  story  at  once,  and  told  it 
in  such  broken  fashion  that  Miss  Prillwitz 
never  could  have  understood  it  but  for  my 
explanations.  When  we  had  finished,  the 
tears  stood  in  Miss  Prillwitz's  eyes. 

"  My  tear  child,"  she  said,  kindly,  drawing 
nearer  to  us,  "  how  you  haf  suffer !  Yes, 
you  have  done  a  sin,  but  you  are  sorry,  and 
God  he  forgive  ze  sorrowful." 


126  WITCH  WINNIE. 

"  But  do  you  f orgive  me,  Miss  Prillwitz  ?  " 
Winnie  cried,  passionately.  "  Can  you  ever 
love  me  again  ? " 

"  Yes,  my  tear,  I  forgive  you  freely,  and 
I  love  you  more  as  ever." 

"  And  the  elder  brother  and  Jim  ?  Have 
Jim's  expectations  been  raised  ?  Will  he  be 
greatly  disappointed,  and  will  the  prince  be 
very  angry  ?  " 

"My  tear,  in  all  zis  it  is  not  as  you  have 
t'inked.  See,  you  haf  not  understand  my 
way  of  talk.  I  t'ink  Giacomo  will,  all  ze 
same,  pretty  soon  go  to  his  Fazzer's  house. 
Ze  elder  brother  is  may  be  gone  wiz  him  by 
now.  You  have  not,  then,  understand  zat 
dis  elder  brother  is  ze  Lord  Christ  ?  zat 
ze  beautiful  country  is  Heaven  ?  Our  little 
Giacomo  lie  very  sick.  Ze  doctor,  whom 
justly  you  did  meet,  he  gif  no  hope.  His 
poor  muzzer  sit  by  him  so  sad,  so  sad,  it  tear 
my  heart.  She  cannot  see  he  go  to  ze 
palace  to  be  one  Prince  del  Paradiso." 

We  sat  bolt  upright,  dazed  and  stunned 
by  this  astounding  information. 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say,"  Winnie  said,  slowly, 
grasping  her  head  as  though  laboring  to  con- 
centrate her  ideas,  "  that  Jim  is  dying,  and 
that  he  is  no  more  a  prince  than  any  of  us  ? 


MRS.  HALSEY'S  STRANGE  STORY.  127 

I  mean  that  the  other  boy  is  not  a  real 
prince,  and  that  no  child  ever  strayed  away 
from  its  father's  house,  or  elder  brother  has 
been  seeking  for  a  lost  one  ?  Oh  Miss 
Prillwitz,  how  could  you  make  up  such  a 
story  ? " 

"  My  tear,  my  tear,  it  is  all  true,  and  I 
t'ought  you  to  understand  my  leetle  vay  of 
talk.  Giacomo  is  a  prince  in  disguise  ;  you, 
my  tears,  are  daughters  of  ze  great  King. 
Zat  uzzer  boy,  ze  butcher,  he  also  inherit  ze 
same  heavenly  palace.  All  ze  children 
what  come  in  zis  world  haf  wander  avay 
from  zat  home,  and  ze  elder  brother  he  go 
up  and  down  looking  for  ze  lost.  He  gif 
me  commission ;  he  gif  eff ery  Christians 
commission  to  find  zose  lost  prince — to 
teach  him  and  fit  him  for  his  high  position. 
I  did  not  have  intention  to  deceive  you,  my 
tear.  It  was  my  little  vay  of  talk." 

"Oh!  oh!"  exclaimed  Winnie,  "I  feel  as 
if  my  brain  were  turning  a  somersault,  but 
I  cannot  realize  it.  Then  I  did  not  really 
deceive  you,  after  all,  Miss  Prillwitz,  though 
I  was  just  as  wicked  in  intending  to  do  so. 
And  Jim — do  not  say  there  is  no  hope !" 

"  No,  my  tear.  I  know  all  ze  time  zis  was 
not  ze  boy  I  expect.  But  I  say  to  myself, 


I  28  WITCH  WINNIE. 

'  How  he  come  I  know  not,  but  he  is  also  ze 
child  of  ze  King-.'  Ze  elder  brother  want 
him  to  be  care  for  also.  May  be  ze  elder 
brother  send  him,  and  I  take  him  very  gladly. 
And  surely,  I  never  find  one  child  to  prove 
his  title  to  be  one  Prince  of  Paradise  better 
as  Giacomo.  So  gentle,  so  loving,  so  gener- 
ous and  soughtful.  I  not  wonder  at  all  ze 
elder  brother  want  him.  I  sank  him,  I  sank 
you,  too,  Winnie,  I  have  privilege  to  know 
one  such  lovely  character." 

Miss  Prillwitz  looked  at  her  watch.  "  I 
can  no  longer,"  she  said  quickly,  and 
hurried  back  to  her  home.  We  crossed  the 
park  thoughtfully  and  entered  the  school. 
There  was  just  time  to  tell  the  girls  the  news 
before  chapel.  The  knowledge  that  dear 
Jim  was  lying  at  death's  door  overwhelmed 
every  other  consideration,  and  yet  we  talked 
over  Miss  Prillwitz's  little  allegory  also. 

"  We  were  stupid  not  to  see  through  it  at 
first,"  said  Adelaide.  "  She  is  just  the 
woman  to  create  an  ideal  world  for  herself 
and  to  live  in  it.  I  have  no  grudge  against 
her  because  we  misunderstood  her  meaning, 
and  yet  there  certainly  is  something  very 
fine  in  Jim's  nature." 

"  Now    I    think    it  all  over,"  said   Emma 


MRS.  HALSEY'S  STRANGE  STORY. 


129 


/ane,  "  she  has  said  nothing  which  was  not 
true." 

"  I  understand  her  letter  better  now,"  I 
said.  "  We  have  all  been  parts  of  a  beauti- 
ful parable,  and  we  have  been  as  thick- 
headed as  the  disciples  were  when  Jesus 
said, '  O  fools,  and  slow  of  heart  to  believe.' " 

Milly  was  silently  weeping.  "All  the 
beauty  of  the  idea  doesn't  change  the  fact 
that  Jim  is  dying,"  she  said. 

"  I  have  never  loved  any  one  so  since  I  lost 
my  mother  and  my  baby  brother,"  said 
Adelaide.  "  I  can't  remember  how  he  looked 
— it  was  ten  years  ago,  and  I  have  no  photo- 
graphs, only  this  cameo  pin,  which  father 
bought  because  it  reminded  him  of  mother. 
Not  the  face  either,  only  the  turn  of  the 
neck.  He  said  she  had  a  beautiful  neck — 
and  as  he  came  home  from  his  business  at 
night  he  always  saw  her  sitting  in  her  little 
sewing-chair  by  the  window  looking  every 
now  and  then  over  her  shoulder  for  him  with 
her  neck  turned  so,  and  her  profile  clear  cut 
against  the  dark  of  the  room  like  the  two 
colors  of  agate  in  this  cameo.  " 

It  is  not  natural  for  girls  to  talk  freely  on 
what  stirs  them  most  deeply,  and  little  more 
was  said  on  the  subject  that  morning,  but 


I^O  WITCH  WINNIE. 

we  each  thought  a  great  deal,  and  if  our 
hearts  could  have  been  laid  bare  to  each 
other,  we  would  have  been  startled  by  the 
similarity  of  the  trains  of  thought  which  this 
event  had  roused.  All  through  the  morn- 
ing's lessons  our  imaginations  wandered  to 
the  house  across  the  park,  and  we  wondered 
whether  all  was  indeed  over,  and  dear, 
cheery,  helpful  Jim  had  gone.  We  did  not 
remember  that  we  had  declared  we  would 
gladly  let  him  go  to  an  earthly  princedom, 
and  yet  this  was  far  better  for  him.  Our 
imaginations  saw  only  the  white  upturned 
face  upon  the  pillow,  the  grief  -  stricken 
mother,  and  Miss  Prillwitz  flitting  about 
drawing  the  sheet  straight,  and  placing 
white  lilacs  in  his  hands. 

Adelaide  confessed  to  me,  long  after,  that 
all  of  her  worldly  thoughts  in  reference  to 
visiting  Jim  some  day  came  back  to  her  in  a 
strange,  sermonizing  way.  She  said  that  in 
her  secret  heart  she  had  rather  dreaded  the 
visit  because  she  knew  so  little  of  the 
etiquette  of  foreign  courts,  and  was  afraid 
she  might  make  some  mistake.  She  had 
even  studied  several  books  on  the  subject, 
and  knew  the  sort  of  costume  it  was  neces- 
sary to  wear  in  a  royal  presentation,  just  the 


MRS.  HALSEY'S  STRANGE  STORY.  131 

length  of  the  train,  the  degree  of  decolletee, 
and  the  veil,  and  the  feathers.  The  thought 
came  over  her  with  great  vividness  that  she 
had  never  studied  the  etiquette  of  Heaven 
or  attempted  to  provide  herself  with 
garments  fit  for  the  presence  of  the  King. 
Mrs.  Hetterman  had  a  habit  of  singing 
quaint  old  hymns.  There  was  one  which 
we  often  heard  echoing  up  from  the  base- 
ment— 

"  At  His  right  hand  our  eyes  behold 
The  queen  arrayed  in  purest  gold; 
The  world  admires  her  heavenly  dress, 
Her  robe  of  joy  and  righteousness." 

This  scrap  was  borne  in  upon  Adelaide's 
mind  now.  "  A  robe  of  joy  and  righteous- 
ness," she  thought  to  herself  ;  "  I  wonder 
how  it  is  made !  it  surely  must  be  becoming." 

Then  she  thought  again  of  her  mingled 
motives,  of  how  glad  she  had  been  that  she 
had  befriended  Jim  because  she  could  claim 
him  as  an  acquaintance  as  a  prince,  in  that 
foreign  country,  and  how  she  had  wished 
that  she  might  entertain  more  traveling 
members  of  the  nobility  in  his  country  in 
order  to  have  more  acquaintances  at  court. 
"  If  the  poor  are  Christ's  brothers  and  sis- 
ters," she  said  to  herself,  "  I  have  abundant 


I  3  2  WITCH  WINNIE. 

opportunity  to  make  many  friendships  which 
may  be  carried  over  into  that  unknown 
country  ;  "  and  a  new  purpose  awoke  in  her 
heart,  which  had  for  its  spring  not  the  most 
unselfish  motives,  but  a  strong  one,  and 
destined  to  achieve  good  work,  and  to  give 
place  in  time  to  higher  aims. 

Afternoon  came,  and  no  message  had 
arrived  from  Jim.  "Girls,"  said  Adelaide, 
as  we  sat  in  the  Amen  Corner,  "  if  Jim  dies, 
I  propose  that  we  carry  this  sort  of  work  on 
of  fitting  poor  children  for  something  higher, 
and  broaden  it,  as  a  memorial  to  him.  I  don't 
exactly  see  my  way  yet,  but  we  can  do  a 
good  deal  if  we  band  together  and  try." 

"  Oh  !  don't  talk  about  Jim's  dying,"  said 
Milly,  "  we'll  do  it,  anyway." 

"  I  can't  see  why  we  don't  hear  from 
Miss  Prill witz,"  said  Winnie,  impatiently. 
"It  is  recreation  hour;  let  us  go  out  into  the 
park,  and  perhaps  she  will  see  us  and  send 
us  some  word." 

We  walked  around  and  around  the  paths 
which  were  in  view  from  Miss  Prillwitz's 
windows.  Presently  we  saw  Mary  Hetter- 
man  coming  toward  us  with  a  note  in  her 
hand. 

"  I  know  just  what  that  note  says,"  exclaim- 


MRS.  HALSEY'S  STRANGE  STORY. 


133 


ed  Milly,  sinking  upon  a  bench.  "The  little 
prince  has  gone  to  his  estates." 

"Hush!"  exclaimed  Adelaide.  "See!  is 
it  a  ghost  ?  We  looked  as  she  pointed,  and 
saw  at  Jim's  window  a  perfect  representa- 
tion of  Adelaide's  cameo.  A  white  face 
against  the  dark  interior.  It  vanished  as 
she  spoke,  leaving  us  all  with  a  strange,  eerie 
sensation,  a  feeling  that  this  was  certainly  an 
omen  of  Jim's  death.  But  our  premonitions, 
like  so  many  others,  did  not  come  true.  The 
note  was  not  for  us.  Mary  Hetterman 
passed  us  with  a  smile  and  a  nod,  and  a 
moment  later  Miss  Prillwitz  herself  came 
out  to  us. 

We  knew  by  her  face  that  she  brought 
good  news,  but  none  of  us  spoke  until  she 
answered  our  unuttered  question. 

"  No,  tears,  Jim  haf  not  gone.  Ze  prince 
haf  been  here,  but  I  sink  he  not  take  him  zis 
time  already.  The  doctor  sink  we  keep  him 
one  leetle  time  longer.  I  cannot  stay.  It 
is  time  I  go  give  him  his  medicine,  and  let 
loose  ze  nurse,  for  I  care  for  him  ze  nights. 
Good-bye,  my  tears.  Ah !  I  am  so  happy 
zat  ze  little  prince  go  not  yet  to  his  estates ; 
so  happy,  and  yet  so  sleepy  also."  And  we 
noticed  for  the  first  time  the  great  dark  rings 


IV ITCH  \VL\'NIE. 

which  want  of  sleep  and  anxiety  had  drawn 
around  Miss  Prillvvitz's  eyes. 

"  Good-bye,  princess,"  I  cried;  "surely  no 
one  deserves  that  title  more  than  you,  for 
you  have  proved  yourself  a  royal  daughter 
of  the  King.  We  have  called  you  so  a  long 
time  among  ourselves — our  Princess  del 
Paradise." 

She  smiled,  waved  her  hand,  and  vanished 
into  the  queer  house  which  she  had  made  a 
palace. 

It  was  some  time  before  Adelaide  could 
recover  from  the  shock  of  the  apparition  at 
the  window,  though  we  assured  her  that  it 
was  probably  only  the  trained  nurse;  and  we 
afterward  ascertained  that  it  was  in  reality 
Mrs.  Halsey,  who  had  come  to  the  window 
for  a  moment  to  greet  the  glad  new  day, 
and  who  was  now  as  joyful  as  she  had  been 
despairing.  So  much  tension  of  feeling,  so 
great  extremes  of  joy  and  sorrow,  had  affected 
her  deeply,  and  she  wept  out  her  gratitude 
on  Miss  Prillwitz's  sympathizing  heart.  "  You 
have  been  very  good  to  him,"  Mrs.  Halsey 
said,  with  emotion.  "  Some  time,  when  the 
past  all  comes  back  to  me,  as  I  am  sure  it  will 
some  day,  I  may  be  able  to  return  your 
kindness." 


MRS.  HALSEY' S  STRANGE  STORY. 


135 


Mrs.  Halsey  had  made  several  mysterious 
allusions  to  the  past,  and  Miss  Prillwitz,  who 
had  a  kindly  way  of  gaining  the  confidence  of 
everyone,  said  sweetly,  "Tell  me  about 
your  early  life,  my  tear." 

"  It  is  a  strange  story,"  Mrs.  Halsey  replied. 
"  I  had  a  happy  childhood  and  girlhood,  and 
a  happy  married  life  up  to  the  time  that  my 
dear  parents  died,  and  even  after  that,  for 
my  husband  was  the  best  of  men,  and  I  had 
a  sweet  little  daughter.  Their  faces  come 
back  to  me,  waking  and  sleeping,  though  I 
have  lost  them,  I  sometimes  fear,  forever." 

"  Did  they  die  ?"  Miss  Prillwitz  asked. 

"  No,  dear,  I  think  not ;  but  now  comes  the 
strange  part  of  my  story  :  I  remember  a 
journey  vaguely,  and  a  steamer  disaster,  a 
night  of  horror  with  fire  and  water,  and  then 
all  is  a  frightful  blank;  a  curtain  of  black- 
ness seems  to  have  fallen  on  all  my  past 
life.  I  am  told  that  I  was  rescued  from  the 
burning  of  a  Sound  steamer,  with  my  baby- 
boy  in  my  arms,  and  given  shelter  by  some 
kindly  farmer  folk.  I  had  received  an  injury — 
a  blow  on  the  head — and  had  brain-fever,  from 
which  I  recovered  in  body,  but  with  a  dis- 
ordered mind,  my  memory  shattered  ;  I  could 
remember  faces,  but  not  names.  I  could -not 


I  ^>6  WITCH  WINNIE. 

\J 

tell  the  name  of  the  town  in  which  I  had  lived, 
or  my  own  name.  I  remained  with  the  kind 
people  who  first  received  me  for  several 
months,  but  I  did  not  wish  to  be  a  burden  to 
them,  and  I  hoped  that  I  might  find  my  home. 
I  knew  that  it  had  been  in  a  city,  and  I  felt 
sure  that  if  I  ever  saw  any  of  my  old  sur- 
roundings, or  old  friends  I  would  recognize 
them  at  once.  It  was  thought,  too,  that  New 
York  physicians  might  help  me,  so  I  came 
to  New  York,  and  my  case  was  advertised 
in  the  papers.  But  months  had  passed  since 
the  accident,  and  my  friends  either  did  not 
see  the  advertisement,  or  did  not  recognize 
me  in  the  story  given.  The  doctors  at  the 
hospital  pronounced  me  incurable,  and  I  was 
discharged.  I  wandered  up  and  down  the 
streets,  but  although  I  felt  sure  that  I  had 
been  in  New  York  before,  I  could  not  find 
my  home.  I  read  the  names  on  the  signs, 
hoping  to  recognize  my  own  name,  but  I 
never  came  across  it.  Meantime  I  took  the 
name  of  Halsey  ;  it  was  necessary  for  me  to 
live,  and  I  knew  that  I  could  sew,  and  that 
I  had  a  faculty  for  designing;  and  seeing 
Madame  Celeste's  advertisement  for  a  de- 
signer, I  applied  at  once  for  the  situation.  It 
seemed  to  me  at  first  that  I  had  seen  Madame 


MRS.  HALSEY'S  STRANGE  STORY.  137 

Celeste  before,  but  she  was  repellent  in  man- 
ner, and  I  did  not  dare  question  her,  and 
gradually  that  impression  faded.  I  hired  a 
woman  to  take  care  of  Jim,  and  though  he 
was  not  well  cared  for,  he  lived,  and  we  got 
on  until  he  was  large  enough  to  play  upon 
the  streets.  Then  I  took  him  home  to  the 
little  room  in  Rickett's  Court,  and  finding 
that  I  could  not  be  with  him  as  much  as  he 
needed,  I  gave  up  my  place  at  Madame  Ce- 
leste's and  worked  at  first  for  the  costumer, 
where  the  young  ladies  found  me,  and  after- 
ward tried  to  keep  soul  and  body  together 
by  taking  sewing  home.  It  was  the  life  of 
a  galley-slave,  but  I  did  not  care  so  long  as 
I  could  keep  my  boy  at  school,  and  with  me 
out  of  school  hours.  But  I  could  not  do  that, 
for  to  earn  the  money  which  was  absolutely 
necessary  for  our  support  Jim  had  to  work 
too,  and  driving  the  milkman's  cart  in  the 
early  morning  was  the  best  we  could  find  for 
him  out  of  school  hours.  He  was  so  proud 
and  happy  to  do  it,  and  to  help  earn  for  us 
both;  but,  as  you  know,  it  cut  into  his  hours 
for  sleep,  and  left  him  no  time  to  study. 
Oh  !  I  was  nearly  in  despair,  when  God  sent 
you  as  angels  to  my  help  and  Jim's." 

"  And  have  you  never  been  able  to  guess 


138  WITCH  WINNIE. 

what  your  old  name  was  ?  "  Miss  Prillwitz 
asked. 

"  Never ;  sometimes  it  seems  to  me  that  I 
remember  it  in  my  dreams,  but  when  I 
awake  it  is  gone  ;  still,  I  cannot  help  feeling 
that  I  shall  find  my  own  again.  Sometimes 
there  comes  a  great  inward  illumination,  and 
the  curtain  seems  to  be  lifting.  I  cannot 
think  they  have  forgotten  me — my  husband 
tender  and  true,  and  my  little  girl  with  the 
great  questioning  eyes." 

Miss  Prillwitz  did  not  share  Mrs.  Halsey's 
confidence,  but  her  sympathy  was  enlisted, 
and  she  caressed  and  comforted  Mrs.  Halsey. 
"  It  shall  be  as  you  hope,  my  tear  ;  if  not 
just  now  and  here,  zen  surely  by  and  by, 
and  zat  is  not  very  long.  And  meantime 
you  have  found  some  friends,  ze  young 
ladies  and  me,  and  ze  Elder  Brother  have 
found  you,  and  we  are  all  one  family,  so 
you  can  be  no  longer  lonely  and  wizout 
relation,  even  in  zis  world." 


CHAPTER  IX. 


THE  KING  S  DAUGHTERS  AND  THE  VENETIAN  FETE. 

"  O  ladies,  dear  ladies,  the  next  sunny  day, 
Please  trundle  your  noops  just  out  of  Broadway, 
From  its  whirl  and  its  bustle,  its  fashion  and  pride, 
And  the  temples  of  trade  which  tower  on  each  side, 
To  the  alleys  and  lanes  where  Misfortune  and  Guilt 
Their  children  have  gathered,  their  city  have  built. 

Then  say,  if  you  dare, 

Spoiled  children  of  fashion,  you've  nothing  to  wear  !" 

IILLY  ROSE- 
VELDT  made  an 
important  entry 
in  her  diary  a  few 
days  after  this. 
She  was  very  ex- 
act about  keeping 
her  diary,  record- 
ing- for  the  most 
part,  however, 
very  trivial  mat- 
ters, but  the  day 
that  she  wrote 
"  We  have  or- 
ganized a  'King's 
Daughters  Ten ' 
was  a  day  with  a 
white  stone  in  it, 
and  deserved  to  be  remembered. 

139 


140  WITCH  WINNIE. 

Jim  had  passed  the  crisis  of  the  fever,  and 
recovered  rapidly.  Neither  of  the  other 
Hettermans  was  taken  ill.  The  house  was 
thoroughly  cleansed  and  disinfected,  and 
after  a  few  weeks  we  took  up  our  inter- 
rupted botany  lessons.  But  Jim's  illness 
had  made  more  than  a  transient  impression, 
and  Adelaide's  suggestion  that  we  should 
broaden  and  deepen  our  work  was  talked 
over  amongst  us. 

"  There  is  a  society,"  said  Emma  Jane, 
"  which  I  have  heard  of  somewhere,  which 
is  called  '  The  King's  Daughters.'  I  think 
they  have  much  the  same  idea  that  Miss 
Prillwitz  has  expressed.  It  is  formed  of 
separate  links  of  ten  members,  bound  to- 
gether by  the  common  purpose  of  doing 
good.  Now,  I  think,  we  might  form  such  a 
link,  with  Miss  Prillwitz  for  our  president. 
There  are  five  of  us,  but  we  need  five  more. 
Whom  shall  we  ask  ?" 

"  Girls,"  said  Winnie,  "  I'm  afraid  you 
won't  agree,  but  there  is  real  good  stuff  in 
those  Hornets." 

"  The  Hornets !     Oh,  never  !" 

"What  an  idea!" 

"Why,  they  hate  us!" 

"  No,  they  simply  think  that  we  despise 
them." 


THE  KING' S  DA  UGHTERS.  141 

"Well,  so  we  do.  I  am  sure,  the  way  that 
Cynthia  Vaughn  behaves  is  simply  despic- 
able." 

"Perhaps  so,"  Winnie  admitted,  "  but  the 
other  three  girls  are  not  so  bad.  Little 
Breeze" — that  was  our  nickname  for  Tina 
Gale — "  is  a  real  good-natured  girl,  and  a  per- 
fect genius  for  getting  up  things.  When  I 
roomed  in  the  Nest  she  was  devoted  to  me; 
so  they  all  were,  for  that  matter.  I  could 
make  them  do  whatever  I  pleased,  and 
Rosaria  Ricos,  the  Cuban  heiress,  is  just  as 
generous  as  she  can  be.  Trude  Middleton  is 
a  great  Sunday-school  worker  when  she  is 
at  home,  and  Puss  Seligman's  mother  has  a 
longer  calling?list  than  Milly's,  I  do  believe. 
Don't  you  remember  what  a  lot  of  tickets 
she  sold  for  the  theatricals  ?  If  we  are 
going  to  get  up  a  charitable  society  we  must 
use  some  brains  to  make  it  succeed,  and 
those  girls  are  a  power.  You  know  very 
well  that  it  is  the  Hornets'  Nest  and  the 
Amen  Corner  which  support  the  literary 
society,  and  when  we  unite  on  any  ticket- 
selling  or  other  enterprise  it  is  sure  to  suc- 
ceed." 

"  Yes,"  replied  Emma  Jane  Anton,  "  that  is 
because  we  appeal  to  entirely  different  sets 


142  WITCH  WINNIE. 

of  girls — between  us  we  carry  the  entire 
school." 

"  I  will  take  all  in,"  said  Adelaide,  "  except 
Cynthia.  She  has  been  too  hateful  to  Tib 
and  Milly  for  anything- !" 

"  Oh,  don't  mind  me,"  murmured  Milly; 
"  I  dare  say  she  could  not  help  laughing 
when  I  made  that  mistake  about  Paul  and 
Virginia." 

"  I  don't  believe  she  will  join  us,"  I  said, 
doubtfully  ;  "  but  I  am  sure  I  would  a  great 
deal  rather  have  her  for  a  friend  than  an 
enemy." 

"She  will  be  so  surprised  and  flattered 
that  she  will  be  as  sweet  as  jam,"  said  Winnie, 
confidently.  "  You  have  no  idea  what  a 
lofty  reputation  you  girls  have.  I  used  to 
reverence  and  envy  you  until  it  amounted  to 
positive  hatred.  That  is  what  made  me  be- 
have so  badly.  I  knew  we  couldn't  approach 
you  in  good  behavior,  and  I  determined  to 
take  the  lead  in  something.  That's  just  the 
way  with  Cynthia.  She  imagines  that  you 
would  not  touch  her  with  a  ten-foot  pole,  and 
she  wants  you  to  think  that  she  doesn't  care, 
but  she  does." 

Milly  promptly  furnished  the  wherewithal 
for  a  spread,  and  the  Hornets  were  invited. 


THE  KINU S  DA  UGHTERS.  143 

Adelaide  said  that  they  acted  as  if  a  sense 
of  gratification  were  struggling  with  a  sneak- 
ing consciousness  of  unworthiness,  and  it 
was  all  that  she  could  do  not  to  display  the 
scorn  which  she  was  afraid  she  felt.  But 
Milly  was  as  sweetly  gracious  as  only  Milly 
knew  how  to  be,  and  Winnie  put  them  all  at 
their  ease  .with  her  rollicking  good-fellow- 
ship. I  was  sure  that  Cynthia  at  first  sus- 
pected some  trick,  but  even  she  succumbed 
at  last  to  our  praise  of  her  banjo-playing, 
which  was  really  admirable.  They  melted 
completely  with  the  ice-cream — little  ducks 
with  strawberry  heads  and  pistache  wings; 
and  when  Winnie  told  them  the  entire  story 
of  the  little  prince  they  were  greatly  inter- 
ested. 

"  Now,"  said  Winnie,  "  I  have  been  talk- 
ing with  Jim,  and  he  says  that  the  tenement 
house  in  which  he  lived  swarms  with  chil- 
dren who  ought  not  to  pass  the  summer 
there,  who  will  die  if  they  do  ;  and  what  I 
want  to  propose  is,  that  we  club  together 
and  have  some  sort  of  entertainment,  to  send 
them  to  the  country,  or  do  something  else 
for  them." 

The  proposition  met  with  favor,  as  did  the 
plan  for  the  King's  Daughters  society,  which 


144  WITCH  WINNIE. 

was  organized  at  once,  and  officered  as  fol- 
lows, the  "  spoils "  being  divided  equally 
between  the  Amen  Corner  and  the  Hor- 
nets : 

President — Miss  Prillwitz. 

Vice-Presidents — Adelaide  Armstrong  and 
Gertrude  Middleton. 

Secretary — Cynthia  Vaughn. 

Treasurer — Emma  Jane  Anton. 

Executive  Committee — The  foregoing  offi- 
cers and  the  rest  of  the  society. 

"Little  Breeze"  then  made  a  practical 
suggestion  :  "  You  know,"  said  she,  "  that 
the  literary  society  is  always  allowed  to  give 
an  entertainment  the  week  before  the  grad- 
uating exercises,  to  put  the  treasury  in  funds, 
or,  rather,  to  pay  old  debts.  We  have  no 
debts  this  year,  and  I  am  sure  that  the  soci- 
ety will  let  us  have  the  occasion.  Whatever 
we  ten  favor  is  sure  to  be  carried  in  the 
literary  society." 

"  That  is  what  I  said,"  remarked  Winnie. 

"  So  if  Miss  Anton  will  get  Madame's  per- 
mission for  the  change,  1  have  no  doubt  we 
can  make  at  least  three  hundred  dollars." 

"  Nonsense !  we  will  make  twice  that," 
said  Puss  Hastings." 

"  But  what  shall  we  have  ?" 


THE  KING'S  DA UGHTERS.  145 

"  I  know  the  sweetest  thing,"  said  Little 
Breeze.  "  A  Venetian  Fete  !  It  is  really  a 
fair,  but  the  booths  are  all  made  to  represent 
gondolas.  They  are  painted  black,  and  have 
their  prows  turned  toward  the  centre  of  the 
room.  We  can  have  it  in  the  gymnasium. 
The  gondolas  are  canopied  in  different  col- 
ors and  hung  with  bright  lanterns.  We  must 
all  be  dressed  in  Venetian  costume,  and  have 
music  and  some  pretty  dances.  It  will  be 
lovely  !" 

The  fair  was  planned  out  :  each  girl  had  a 
gondola  assigned  her,  with  permission  to 
work  other  girls  in,  and  enthusiasm  had 
reached  a  high  pitch,  when  the  retiring-bell 
clanged  and  the  Hornets  took  their  depart- 
ure, the  utmost  good  feeling  prevailing  be- 
tween what  had  been  until  this  evening  rival 
factions  of  the  school. 

After  our  next  botany  lesson  we  lingered 
to  inform  Miss  Prillwitz  of  what  we  had  done, 
and  to  ask  her  to  accept  the  Presidency  of 
our  ten.  She  listened  with  much  interest. 

"  My  tears,"  she  said,  "  I  sink  perhaps  you 
s'all  do  much  good.  I  have  justly  been 
sinking,  sinking  ;  but  ze  need  is  great.  I 
know  not  how  we  s'all  come  at  ze  money 
which  we  do  need." 


146  WITCH  WINNIE. 

Then  Miss  Prillwitz  explained  that  she  had 
visited  Rickett's  Court,  and  had  found  so 
many  little  children  in  those  vile  surroundings; 
some  of  them,  whose  mothers  were  servants 
in  families,  and  received  good  wages,  were 
"  boarding "  with  Mrs.  Grogan,  the  baby- 
farmer.  She  had  met  one  such  mother  in 
the  court  —  a  waitress  on  Fifth  Avenue, 
who  had  three  children  with  Mrs.  Grogan. 

"  I  pay  her  fifteen  dollars  a  month,"  she 
said  ;  "  it  is  cheaper  than  I  can  board  them 
elsewhere,  and  all  that  I  can  pay ;  but  it 
makes  my  heart  sick  to  see  them  sleeping 
and  playing  beside  sewers  and  sinks,  and  to 
have  them  exposed  to  language  of  infinitely 
worse  foulness.  I  know  that  if  they  do  not 
die  in  childhood,  of  which  there  is  every  like- 
lihood, they  will  grow  up  bad  ;  and  I  don't 
know  which  I  would  choose  for  them.  I 
wouldn't  mind  slaving  for  them,  if  there  was 
any  hope,  if  I  could  see  them  in  decent  sur- 
roundings, with  some  prospect  of  their  turn- 
ing out  well  in  fthe  end  ;  but  now,  when  I 
ask  myself  what  all  my  toil  amounts  to,  it 
seems  to  me  that  the  best  thing  which  could 
happen  to  us  all  would  be  to  die." 

The  waitress  knew  of  other  servants  who 
could  have  no  home  of  their  own  for  their 


THE  KING'S  DAUGHTERS. 


147 


children,  but  who  could  pay  something  for 
their  support,  and  whose  maternal  love  and 
feeling  of  independence  kept  them  from  giv- 
ing their  children  up  to  institutions;  who  had 
entrusted  their  little  ones  to  bad  people,  who 
hired  them  to  beggars,  beat  and  half  starved 
them.  And  now  the  summer  was  approach- 
ing, and  it  was  dreadful  to  think  of  those 

o 7 

closely  packed  tenement  houses  under  the 
stifling  heat. 

Miss  Prillwitz  said  that  it  had  seemed  to 
her  positively  wrong  for  her  to  go  away  to 
the  seashore  for  the  summer  while  so  many 
must  remain  and  suffer. 

"  I  don't  see  that,"  said  Adelaide,  "unless 
by  staying  you  can  make  their  condition 
better." 

"  Perhaps  I  can  so,"  replied  Miss  Prillwitz, 
"  if  ze  King's  Daughters  will  help  me."  And 
then  she  developed  a  plan  of  Jim's.  He  had 
noticed  the  vacant  floors  in  her  house,  which 
had  remained  unlet  all  the  winter.  "  If  you 
could  rent  them  for  the  summer,  Miss  Prill- 
witz," he  had  suggested,  "  we  wouldn't  need 
much  furniture,  but  could  just  invite  a  lot  of 
the  children  in  and  let  them  camp  down. 
The  rooms  are  so  clean,  and  there  is  such 
lovely  fresh  air  and  no  smells,  and  such  beau- 


WITCH  WINNIE. 

tiful  bath-tubs,  and  the  park  for  the  little 
ones  to  play  in,  and  Mary  Hetterman  could 
watch  them." 

"  You  forget,"  Miss  Prillwitz  had  replied, 
"  zat  zose  children  are  use  probably  to  eat 
somet'ings." 

No,  Jim  had  not  forgotten  that,  but  Mrs. 
Hetterman  would  be  out  of  a  place  for  the 
summer  vacation,  and  would  cook  for  them, 
and  the  children's  mothers  would  pay  some- 
thing, and  he  would  do  the  marketing. 
After  the  public  school  closed  the  older 
children  could  earn  something,  he  thought. 
He  was  all  on  fire  with  the  idea,  and  his 
enthusiasm  had  communicated  itself  to  our 
princess.  "  I  haf  even  vent  to  see  my  land- 
lord," she  confessed;  "he  is  von  very  rich 
man.  I  sought  maybe  he  let  me  use  ze 
rooms  for  ze  summer,  since  he  cannot  else 
rent  them.  But  no,  he  did  not  so  make  his 
wealths.  We  can  have  them  von  hundred 
dollar  ze  months  ;  six  months,  five  hundred. 
We  cannot  else.  Now  do  you  sink  you 
make  five  hundred  dollar  from  your  fair  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I  think  so ;  indeed,  I  am  sure  of  it !" 
Adelaide  exclaimed  ;  "  dear  little  Jim,  what 
an  angel  he  is  !  We  will  go  right  to  work 
and  see  what  we  can  do." 


THE  KING1  S  DA  UGHTERS.  1 49 

Of  course  the  fair  was  a  success,  as  fairs 
go.  I  have  since  thought  that  a  fair  is  a 
poor  way  for  Christian  people  to  give  money 
to  any  charitable  purpose.  So  much  goes 
astray  from  the  goal,  so  much  is  swallowed 
up  in  the  expenses,  that  if  people  would  only 
put  their  hands  in  their  pockets  and  give  at 
the  outset  what  they  do  give  in  the  aggre- 
gate, more  would  be  realized,  and  much  time, 
vexation,  and  labor  saved.  But  people  do 
not  yet  recognize  this,  and  we  knew  no  bet- 
ter than  to  follow  in  the  old  way.  I  had 
charge  of  the  Art  gondola,  with  Miss  Sartoris 
and  all  the  Studio  girls  to  help  me.  We 
decided  that,  as  it  was  a  Venetian  f£te,  we 
would  make  a  specialty  of  Italian  art.  Miss 
Sartoris  suggested  etchings,  and  one  of  the 
leading  art  dealers  allowed  us  to  make  our 
choice  from  his  entire  collection,  giving 
them  to  us  at  wholesale,  as  he  would  to  any 
other  retail  dealer,  we  to  sell  them  at  the 
regular  retail  price,  thereby  taking  no  unfair 
advantage  over  our  purchasers,  and  yet 
making  a  handsome  profit  on  each  etching 
sold,  while  we  ran  no  risk,  as  all  unsold 
stock  was  to  be  returned. 

We  were  surprised  to  find  how  many 
Venetian  subjects  had  been  etched.  There 


WITCH  WINNIE. 


were  half  a  dozen  different  views  of  St. 
Mark's  Cathedral — exteriors  and  interiors  ; 
San  Giorgios  and  La  Salutes  ;  there  were 
Rainy  Nights  in  Venice,  and  Sunny  Days  in 
Venice,  canals  and  bridges,  shipping  and 
palaces,  piazzas  and  archways  and  clois- 
ters. 

Then  we  obtained  a  quantity  of  photo- 
graphs of  the  Italian  master-pieces,  chiefly 
from  the  works  of  Titian  and  the  Venetian 
school,  though  we  included  also  the  Madon- 
nas of  Raphael.  Miss  Sartoris  found  an 
Italian  curiosity-shop,  which  was  a  perfect 
treasure-trove,  for  here  we  secured,  on  com- 
mission, a  quantity  of  Venetian  glass  beads, 
the  beautiful  blossomed  variety,  with  tiny 
smelling-bottles  of  the  same  material,  to- 
gether with  sleeve-buttons  of  Florentine  mo- 
saic, ornaments  of  pink  Neapolitan  coral, 
and  broken  pieces  of  antique  Roman  mar- 
bles, all  of  which  we  sold  at  immense  profit. 
We  had  not  thought  of  having  any  statuary, 
until  Jim  came  to  us,  one  afternoon,  saying 
that  Miss  Prillwitz  had  told  him  that  we  in- 
tended to  have  an  Italian  fete,  and  as  sev- 
eral of  the  families  whom  he  wished  bene- 
fited were  Italians,  who  lived  in  Rickett's 
Court,  he  thought  they  might  help  us. 


THE  KINGS  DAUGHTERS. 

"  What    do    they  do  ? "  I    asked. 

"The  older  Stavini  boys  peddle  plaster-of- 
paris  images,  and  some  of  them  are  very 
pretty.  Pietro  will  bring  you  a  basket  of 
them,  I  am  sure,  and  take  back  all  you  don't 
sell." 

The  plaster  casts  proved  to  be  artistic  and 
new.  There  was  a  set  of  five  singing  cherubs 
which  we  had  seen  on  sale  in  the  stores  at 
twenty-five  dollars  a  set,  which  Pietro  offered 
us  at  fifty  cents  each,  and  others  in  like  pro- 
portion. We  sold  his  entire  basketful  at 
advanced  prices,  and  received  several  orders 
for  duplicates. 

Winnie  had  charge  of  the  refreshment 
department,  and  had  a  troop  of  the  "  prepara- 
tories "  dressed  as  contadinas,  who  were  to 
serve  Neapolitan  ices  in  colored  glasses. 
Jim  enabled  her  to  introduce  a  very  taking 
novelty  by  telling  her  of  Vincenzo  Amati, 
a  cook  in  an  Italian  restaurant,  who  had  three 
motherless  little  girls  who  were  candidates 
for  the  summer  home.  Vincenzo  agreed 
to  come  and  cook  for  us  while  the  fair  lasted, 
Mrs.  Hetterman  kindly  giving  him  place 
in  the  kitchen,  so  that  we  were  able  to  add 
to  our  other  attractions  that  of  a  real  Italian 
supper,  served  on  little  tables  in  an  adjoining 


WITCH  WINNIE. 

recitation-room.  Vincenzo  brought  us  sev- 
eral dozen  Chianti  wine  flasks,  the  empty 
bottles  at  the  restaurant  having  been  one  of 
his  perquisites.  They  were  of  graceful 
shapes,  with  slender  necks,  and  wound  in 
wicker,  which  Miss  Sartoris  gilded  and 
further  ornamented  with  a  bow  of  bright 
satin  ribbon.  These  flasks,  empty,  decorated 
each  of  the  little  tables,  and  one  was  given 
to  each  guest  as  a  souvenir. 
The  menu  consisted  of — 

Riso  con  piselli,  )  , 

,T.  Z         'I  (Soup). 

Mmestra  Zuppa,  j  v 

Oiives. 

Bistecca  (Beefsteak). 

Macaroni  al  burro  (with  butter). 

Macaroni  a  pomidoro  (with  potatoes). 

Testa  de  vitello  (Calf's  head). 

Carciofi  (Artichokes). 

Cavolifiori  (Cauliflower). 

Salami  di  Bologna  (Bologna  Sausage). 

Crostata  di  frutti  (Fruit  tarts). 

Formaggio  (Cheese). 

Adelaide  was  musical  director,  and  led  the 
singing  class  in  "  Dolce  Napoli  "  and  other 
Italian  songs.  The  girls  were  dressed  in 
costume,  and  there  was  one  fisher  chorus, 
which  made  a  very  effective  tableau  with  a 
background  of  colored  sails  and  nets.  Vin- 


THE  KING*  S  DA  UGHTERS.  153 

cenzo  allowed  his  little  girls  to  appear  with 
a  neighbor's  hand  -  organ,  and  when  they 
passed  their  tambourines  they  gathered  a 
goodly  harvest  of  pennies. 

Little  Breeze  arranged  the  tableaux  and 
the  dances,  Mrs.  Halsey  sending  in  designs 
for  the  costumes  ;  and  Cynthia  Vaughn  ran 
a  side  show  of  stereopticon  views,  Professor 
Todd  kindly  working  the  lantern. 

Milly  had  the  flower  gondola,  or  booth  of 
cut  flowers,  supplied  from  her  father's  conser- 
vatory, and  Miss  Prillwitz  contributed  to  this 
department  a  quantity  of  little  albums  and 
herbaria  containing  pressed  flowers  and  sea- 
weed from  different  Italian  cities.  Our  dear 
princess  was  present,  beaming  with  happi- 
ness, and  the  "  ten  "  introduced  her  proud- 
ly to  their  parents  and  friends.  Mr.  Roseveldt 
seemed  much  interested,  in  an  amused  way, 
in  what  we  were  trying  to  do.  "  Go  ahead, 
my  dear,"  he  said  to  Milly,  "and  if  you  don't 
come  to  me  to  shoulder  a  lot  of  bad  debts 
before  the  summer  is  over,  I  shall  be  greatly 
surprised,  and  have  a  far  higher  respect  for 
what  little  girls  can  do  than  I  now  possess." 

"  '  Little  girls,'  indeed!"  Milly  repeated,  with 
scorn.  "  There  are  younger  gentlemen,  sir, 
who  consider  us  young  ladies,  if  you  do  not. 


154 


WITCH  WINNIE. 


But  we  will   compel  your  respect,  and  we 
will  not  ask  you  for  one  penny  either." 

This  was  rather  hard,  for  we  had  secretly 
hoped,  all  along,  that  Milly's  father  would 
help  us,  and  now  she  had  made  it  a  point  of 
pride  not  to  ask  him.  He  behaved  very  well, 
however,  for  although  he  bantered  us  cruelly 
on  our  Utopian  enterprise,  he  bought  a  but- 
ton -  hole  bouquet  of  his  own  violets  from 
Milly,  paying  a  five-dollar  bill  for  it  and 
neglecting  to  ask  for  change,  and  then  took 
Miss  Prillwitz,  Madame,  Emma  Jane  Anton, 
Miss  vSartoris,  and  Miss  Hope  successively  out 
to  supper.  He  purchased,  too,  an  alabaster 
model  of  the  Leaning  Tower  of  Pisa,  which 
Madame  had  contributed  on  condition  that  it 
should  be  sold  for  not  less  than  twenty  dollars, 
and  which  we  had  feared  would  not  be  dispos- 
ed of,  as  we  had  voted  that  there  should  be  no 
raffling.  Madame  was  greatly  interested  in 
the  fair  ;  it  drew  attention  to  her  school,  and 
she  smiled  on  everyone — a  self-constituted 
reception  committee.  She  was  even  gracious 
to  the  cadet  band  which  had  serenaded  the 
school  in  the  fall  term.  The  cadets  to  a  man 
invited  Milly  out  to  dinner.  She  went  with 
each  of  them  in  succession,  and  as  the  viands 
were  sold  a  la  carte,  she  bravely  ordered  the 


THE  KING''  S  DA  UGHTERS.  155 

more  expensive  dishes  over  and  over  again, 
enduring  a  martyrdom  of  dyspepsia  for  a 
week  in  consequence. 

Of  course  Jim  was  present,  and  his  mother. 
Adelaide  was  attentive  to  both;  there  seemed 
to  be  a  mutual  attraction  that  kept  them  to- 
gether, and  whenever  Adelaide  left  Mrs. 
Halsey,  and  taking  up  her  baton  (Milly's 
curling-stick),  led  her  ochestra,  Mrs.  Halsey 's 
eyes  followed  her  with  a  strange  wistfulness. 
Winnie,  with  her  usual  heedlessness,  had 
neo-lected  to  introduce  Adelaide  to  Mrs. 

o 

Halsey  when  she  called  on  her  in  the  court, 
and  she  now  turned  to  Jim  and  asked  her 
name.  It  happened  that  Jim  thought  that 
she  referred  to  the  pianist  instead  of  to 
Adelaide,  and  he  replied  that  the  young 
lady  in  question  was  Miss  Hope,  the  music- 
teacher.  Mrs.  Halsey  gave  a  little  sigh  of 
disappointment,  and  continued  her  spell- 
bound gaze.  I  was  about  to  correct  the  mis- 
take which  I  was  sure  Jim  had  made,  when 
it  was  announced  that  Mrs.  Le  Moyne,  the 
celebrated  interpreter  of  Robert  Browning, 
would  kindly  recite  a  poem  of  Mrs.  Brown- 
ing's. Mrs.  Halsey  and  Jim  moved  nearer 
the  rostrum,  and  my  opportunity  for  ex- 
planation was  lost.  If  I  had  known  the 


156  WITCH  WINNIE. 

effect  that  the  name  of  Adelaide  Armstrong 
would  have  had  upon  Mrs.  Halsey,  chains 
could  not  have  kept  me  in  my  gondola — so 
many  invisible  gates  of  opportunity  are 
closed  and  opened  to  us  all  along  life's  path- 
way! 

The  poem  recited  was,  most  appropriately, 
"The  Cry  of  the  Children."  Tears  welled 
into  the  eyes  of  many  a  mother  as  the 
practiced  art  of  the  speaker  rendered  most 
feelingly  the  pathetic  words  : 

"  But  these  others — children  small, 

Spilt  like  blots  about  the  city 

Quay  and  street  and  palace  wall — 

Take  them  up  into  your  pity  ! 

Patient  children — think  what  pain 
Makes  a  young  child  patient  yonder  ; 

Wronged  too  commonly  to  strain 
After  right,  or  wish  or  wonder; 

Sickly  children,  that  whine  low 

To  themselves  and  not  their  mothers, 

From  mere  habit,  never  so — 

Hoping  help  or  care  from  others; 

Healthy  children,  with  those  blue 
English  eyes,  fresh  from  their  Maker, 

Fierce  and  ravenous,  staring  through 
At  the  brown  loaves  of  the  baker. 


THE  KING' S  DA  UGHTERS.  157 

Can  we  smooth  down  the  bright  hair, 
O  my  sisters,  calm,  unthrilled  in 

Our  hearts'  pulses  ?     Can  we  bear 
The  sweet  looks  of  our  own  children? 

O  my  sisters  !  Children  small, 

Blue-eyed,  wailing  through  the  city — 

Our  own  babes  cry  in  them  all; 
Let  us  take  them  into  pity  !" 

That  poem  was  worth  a  great  deal  to  our 
cause.  Those  of  the  mothers  of  our  Ten 
who  were  present  were  won  to  us  at  once. 

Mrs.  Middleton,  our  vice  -  president's 
mother,  and  the  wife  of  a  clergyman,  entered 
into  our  scheme  with  enthusiasm,  and  felt 
sure  that  her  husband's  church  would  as- 
sist us. 

Mrs.  Seligman  and  Mrs.  Roseveldt  put 
their  heads  together  and  planned  to  interest 
their  society  friends.  One  of  hers.  Mrs. 
Roseveldt  was  sure,  would  contribute  the 
coal,  and  another  the  flour,  while  Mrs. 
Seligman  would  provide  the  blankets,  and  a 
friend  of  her  acquaintance  would  certainly 
assume  the  butcher's  bill.  Madame  Celeste, 
the  dressmaker,  who  was  present,  was  about 
to  refurnish  her  parlors,  and  would  con- 
tribute curtains.  Madame  Celeste  bought  a 
quantity  of  my  photographs  of  old  Italian 


158  WITCH  WINNIE. 

portraits,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  they  were 
very  serviceable  to  her  in  the  way  of  sug- 
gestions for  aesthetic  costumes. 

We  knew  before  the  evening  closed  that 
the  fair  must  have  realized  more  than  we 
had  hoped,  and  Emma  Jane,  the  Treasurer  of 
the  new  society,  announced  at  our  next 
meeting  that  the  fair  had  cleared  six  hun- 
dred dollars.  Vociferous  applause  followed, 
and  we  immediately  adjourned  to  Miss  Prill- 
witz's  to  report  the  unexpectedly  happy  result. 

Our  princess  had  talked  over  the  scheme 
with  such  of  our  mothers  as  were  present  at 
the  fair;  and  she  now  advised  that  we  create 
them  a  board  of  managers  of  the  proposed 
Home,  to  carry  it  on  for  us,  as  we  were  all 
minors,  and  lacked  the  necessary  experience, 
we  to  labor  for  it  harder  than  ever.  This 
was  immediately  done,  and  after  this,  affairs 
marched  with  great  rapidity.  The  Home 
of  the  Elder  Brother  was  licensed  and  fitted 
up  for  its  little  guests  within  a  week.  The 
vacant  floors  in  Miss  Prillwitz's  house  were 
rented — not  for  the  summer  only,  as  we  had 
at  first  planned,  but,  to  our  great  surprise,  for 
a  year.  An  "  unknown  friend,"  who  had 
admired  our  efforts,  sent  in  a  subscription  of 
nine  hundred  dollars,  thereby  more  than 


THE  ICING'S  DAUGHTERS. 

doubling  the  amount  obtained  by  the  fair, 
and  guaranteeing  that  amount  annually  as 
long  as  the  Home  was  continued. 

Mr.  Roseveldt  had  been  better  than  his 
word,  and  the  Home  was  placed  on  an 
assured  basis  for  a  year.  What  it  would 
be  after  that  we  could  not  tell.  It  was  only 
permitted  to  see  one  step  ahead,  but  that 
step  we  could  take  with  thankful  assurance. 

Madame  sent  over  a  quantity  of  furniture, 
as  she  intended  to  refit  the  students'  rooms 
during  the  summer  vacation.  Donations  of 
every  kind  poured  in,  and  twenty-five  little 
iron  bedsteads  were  dressed  in  white,  and 
set  in  the  sunny  rooms  which  were  to  be  used 
as  dormitories.  Madame  Celeste  had  said 
that  she  would  not  require  Mrs.  Halsey  dur- 
ing the  three  summer  months,  and  the  little 
woman  offered  her  services  for  that  interim 
as  nursery  care-taker. 

Another  surprise  came  when  Emma  Jane 
Anton  announced  that  she  had  written  home 
and  obtained  permission  to  remain  as  ma- 
tron. She  had  a  talent  for  housekeeping,  and 
she  gave  her  services  freely.  "  I  am  not 
rich,"  she  said.  "  I  can't  give  money,  but  I 
can  give  myself.  I  am  not  used  to  children  ; 
I  don't  believe  they  will  like  me,  for  I  don't 


l6o  WITCH  WINNIE. 

care  for  them  overmuch  ;  but  Mrs.  Halsey 
will  mother  them,  and  I  can  keep  the  house 
sweet  and  clean  ;  I  can  market  economically, 
and  keep  accounts  exactly,  and  I  mean  that 
the  princess  shall  not  give  up  her  visit  to 
Tib.  She  must  go  to  the  country  for  a  part 
of  the  summer  at  least." 

"  And  when  she  comes  back,"  I  said,  "  you 
must  take  your  turn,  Emma  Jane  ;  we  will  be 
so  glad  to  have  you !" 

"  Oh,  immensely !  I  am  a  genial,  sweet 
creature,  I  know,  an  addition  to  society;  but 
I  thank  you,  all  the  same,  and  if  I  feel  run 
down,  I  will  come  and  get  a  sniff  of  sea  air." 

The  King's  Daughters'  Ten  held  their  last 
meeting  before  the  breaking  up  of  the 
school.  The  money  gained  was  entrusted  to 
Emma  Jane's  care  for  the  summer,  and  each 
of  the  members  bound  herself  to  carry  the 
scheme  \vith  her  wherever  she  went,  to 
interest  others,  to  gather  and  forward  funds, 
and  to  work  for  the  Home  in  every  possible 
way. 

Then  we  paid  our  last  visit,  for  that  term, 
to  Miss  Prillwitz,  and  our  first  to  our  little 
guests,  and  returning,  packed  our  trunks, 
attended  the  graduating  exercises  of  the 
senior  class  (the  Amen  Corner  and  the 


THE  KING1  S  DAUGHTERS.  i6l 

Hornets  were  all  juniors  and  sophomores, 
with  the  exception  of  Emma  Jane,  who 
graduated),  hugged  and  wept  over  each  other, 
and  elected  Winnie  corresponding  secretary 
for  the  summer,  and  promised  to  write  to 
her  every  month,  reporting  work  done  for  the 
Home,  and  separated  with  mingled  hilarity 
and  depression  of  spirits. 

Mr.  Roseveldt  called  at  the  Home  with 
Milly  and  Adelaide  before  they  left  town.  It 
was  a  little  plan  of  the  girls  to  interest  him 
in  Jim,  and  it  succeeded  admirably.  After 
a  number  of  other  questions,  Mr.  Roseveldt 
asked  Jim  if  he  could  drive. 

"  I  managed  the  milkman's  nag,"  the  boy 
replied,  "  and  he  was  an  awfully  hard- 
mouthed,  ugly  brute." 

"  Then  I  fancy  you  will  have  no  trouble 
with  Milly's  pony,  which  is  as  gentle  as  a 
kitten,"  Mr.  Roseveldt  replied.  "I  want  a 
boy  in  buttons  just  to  sit  in  the  rumble  while 
the  girls  drive  about  the  country."  And  so 
Jim  was  engaged  to  go  to  Narragansett  Pier, 
and  would  have  a  happy  summer  with  Milly 
and  Adelaide. 


CHAPTER    X. 


THE    LANDLORD    OF    RICKETT's    COURT. 

"  And  yet  it  was  never  in  my  soul 

To  play  so  ill  a  part : 
But  evil  is  wrought  by  want  of  thought 
As  well  as  by  want  of  heart." 

—  Thos.  Hood. 


OLOMON  MEY- 
ER, who  collect- 
ed the  rents  at 
Rickett's  Court, 
was  looked  upon 
by  the  tenants 
as  the  landlord, 
though  he  dis- 
tinctly disclaim- 
ed that  honor, 
explaining  that 
he  was  only  the 
agent,  empower- 
ed merely  to 
receive  money, 
never  to  disburse.  According  to  Mr.  Meyer 


LANDLORD  OF  RICKETT'S  COURT.  163 

the  landlord  was  a  heartless  miser,  whom 
he  had  entreated  to  make  repairs  and  to 
lower  rents,  but  who  always  turned  a  deaf 
ear  to  such  appeals.  If  he,  Solomon  Meyer, 
only  owned  Rickett's  Court,  there  would  be 
no  end  to  the  reforms  which  his  tender 
heart  would  cause  him  to  institute  ;  as  it 
was,  there  was  no  hope  for  anything  of  the 
kind  ;  his  orders  were  explicit — if  tenants 
could  not  pay,  they  must  leave. 

Many  of  the  tenants  believed  that  Mr. 
Meyer  was  really  the  owner  of  their  build- 
ing, and  that  the  landlord  whom  he  repre- 
sented as  responsible  for  all  their  discom- 
fort was  purely  imaginary,  but  in  this  they 
wronged  the  agent.  Solomon  Meyer  had 
no  scruples  against  telling  a  lie  whenever 
it  would  serve  his  purpose,  but  here  the 
truth  did  very  well.  Rickett's  Court  had  a 
landlord  who,  although  he  was  not  the  in- 
human wretch  which  Solomon  represented 
him,  still  cared  nothing  for  his  tenants,  and, 
while  the  agent  had  never  suggested  any 
reforms  or  repairs,  might  well  have  guessed 
that  they  were  needed.  Adelaide  Arm- 
strong would  have  been  shocked  beyond 
expression  if  she  had  known  that  the  true 
landlord  of  Rickett's  Court  was  no  other 


1 64  WITCH  WINNIE. 

than  her  own  father.  Mr.  Armstrong  would 
have  been  no  less  shocked  if  he  had  known 
of  the  abuses  for  which  he  was  really  respon- 
sible. He  had  never  seen  his  own  property. 
It  had  been  represented  to  him  as  a  profit- 
able investment,  and  had  proved  so.  He 
was  only  in  New  York  for  brief  intervals 
each  year,  and  he  left  the  entire  manage- 
ment of  Rickett's  Court  to  Solomon  Meyer, 
well  pleased  with  the  returns  which  he  ren- 
dered, and  not  suspecting  that  they  were 
less  than  the  sums  wrung  from  the  tenants. 
He  had  mentally  set  aside  Rickett's  Court 
as  Adelaide's  property,  and  he  used  its 
proceeds  to  defray  her  expenses.  There 
was  a  neat  little  surplus  left  over  each 
quarter-day,  which  he  placed  in  the  savings 
bank  to  her  credit,  and  with  which  he  in- 
tended to  endow  her  on  her  marriage.  But 
of  all  this  Adelaide  of  course  knew  nothing. 
Mr.  Armstrong's  more  important  business 
ventures  were  in  western  railroad  specula- 
tions. These  absorbed  his  attention,  and 
needed  the  closest  application  of  his  facul- 
ties. He  was  glad  of  this.  The  East  had 
grown  distasteful  to  him  since  the  loss  of  his 
wife  and  infant  son.  He  felt  that  he  might 
have  been  a  different  man  if  his  wife,  whom 


LANDLORD  OF  RICKETT'S  COURT.  165 

he  tenderly  loved,  had  lived;  and  Adelaide 
had  never  ceased  to  mourn  her  mother, 
whom  she  could  not  remember.  "  What 
shall  I  ever  do,"  she  frequently  asked, 
"  when  I  finish  school  ?  If  I  only  had  a 
mother  to  be  my  companion  and  counselor  \ 
but  I  shall  be  so  lonely,  and  so  unfit  to  take 
care  of  myself!" 

The  circumstances  which  I  relate  in  this 
chapter  because  they  belong  here  in  sequence 
of  time,  did  not  come  to  my  knowledge  un- 
til long  after  their  occurrence. 

Mr.  Armstrong  came  on  from  the  West 
the  evening  of  our  fair.  He  was  weary  and 
much  occupied  by  matters  of  business,  and 
he  did  not  attend  it,  much  to  our  regret. 
He  lent  a  kindly  ear  to  Adelaide's  descrip- 
tion of  it,  for  he  was  fond  and  proud  of  his 
beautiful  daughter,  and  he  liked  to  see  her 
a  leader  in  everything. 

He  manifested  apparently  little  interest, 
however,  in  what  she  had  to  tell  him  of 
Rickett's  Court.  "There,  there,  Puss!"  he 
said,  lightly,  "  you  must  not  get  fanatical, 
and  rant.  I  hardly  think  things  are  as  bad 
down  there  as  you  make  them  out." 

"  But,  papa,"  Adelaide  interrupted,  "  I 
went  there  myself.  I  saw  it  with  my  own 


1 66  WITCH  WIXNIE. 

eyes.  It  is  horrible  to  think  that  human 
beings  should  be  obliged  to  live  in  such  filth 
and  misery.  I  think  the  landlord  of  Rick- 
ett's  Court  ought  to  be  prosecuted.  I  wish 
I  knew  that  old  Rickett !  I  would  give  him 
a  piece  of  my  mind." 

"I've  no  doubt  of  it;  but  spare  me,  Puss, 
since  my  name  is  not  Rickett." 

He  must  have  felt  a  sharp  twinge  of  con- 
science as  he  spoke,  while  his  daughter's 
words  could  not  have  failed  to  make  an  im- 
pression on  the  false  Rickett.  He  had  read 
in  the  cars  a  little  book  entitled  "  Uncle  Tom's 
Tenement,"  by  Alice  Wellington  Rollins,  and 
Helen  Campbell's  "Prisoners  of  Poverty."  He 
wondered  if  their  pictures  of  tenement  life 
were  indeed  true.  A  few  days  later  he 
listened  to  some  remarks  of  Mr.  Felix 
Adler's  on  tenement  reform.  He  knew  what 
Mr.  Charles  Pratt  was  doing  in  Brooklyn, 
and  his  better  man  told  him  that  now  was 
his  opportunity.  Why  should  he  not  put 
the  plumbing  in  his  tenement  in  decent  re- 
pair ;  it  might  not  cost  much  more,  after  all, 
than  to  bribe  the  inspector  to  report  it  as  all 
right — a  proceeding  which  Solomon  Meyer 
advised.  He  could  at  least  drain  the  sink 
in  the  court,  and  do  away  with  the  unchris- 


LANDLORD  OF  R1CKETT* S  COURT. 

tian  smells  which  now  drove  the  chance 
visitor  from  the  vicinity.  And  if  he  should 
have  the  rooms  cleaned  and  whitewashed,  he 
might  even  pose  before  the  public  as  a 
humanitarian  landlord,  and  so  gain  the  co- 
operation of  some  of  the  philanthropists  of 
the  day  for  some  other  schemes  which  he 
had  in  mind. 

He  visited  the  court  with  a  plumber,  and 
found  it  in  worse  condition  than  he  had 
imagined.  There  was  a  leak  from  the  sewer 
in  the  back  basement.  All  of  the  rooms 
were  foul  with  vermin,  and  rats  scuttled  back 
into  the  walls  through  great  holes.  Many 
of  the  tenants  had  left,  for  various  reasons. 
The  opening  of  the  Home  of  the  Elder 
Brother  was  in  great  part  responsible  for  the 
emptying  of  Rickett's  Court,  for  the  better 
class  of  its  tenants  had  embraced  this 
great  opportunity  to  place  their  children 
in  good  surroundings.  So  many  children 
had  been  transferred  from  Mrs.  Grogan's 
care  to  the  Home  by  their  mothers  that 
Mrs.  Grogan,  finding  her  occupation  gone, 
betook  herself  to  petty  larceny  and  was 
arrested. 

The  Italian  rag-pickers  had  taken  to  the 
road,  with  a  monkey  and  an  organ  as  tramps 


1 68  WITCH  WINNIE. 

for  the  summer,  leaving  their  filth  behind 
them. 

Mr.  Armstrong  looked  into  their  vacated 
den,  and  found  it  impossible  to  imagine  what 
it  could  have  been  when  occupied. 

The  windows  had  been  stoned  by  the 
street  boys  until  hardly  a  pane  remained, 
and  the  staircase  had  rotted  so  that  he 
thrust  his  foot  through  it.  The  house  would 
need  plastering  and  glazing  as  well  as  re- 
plumbing.  It  began  to  look  like  a  great  un- 
dertaking. However,  he  bade  the  plumber 
make  and  send  him  his  estimates,  and  hurried 
out  of  the  court,  not  taking  a  full  breath  un- 
til he  was  fairly  on  Broadway.  Then  he 
sent  a  mason  and  a  carpenter  to  look  at  the 
building.  "  I  must  make  some  repairs,"  he 
said  to  himself,  "  or  I  shall  get  no  tenants 
whatever." 

He  had  noticed  another  defect :  there  was 
but  one  staircase.  He  must  add  a  fire-escape, 
for  the  place  was  a  death-trap.  He  had  a 
feeling  of  responsibility  in  regard  to  en- 
dangering the  lives  of  human  beings  by  fire, 
and  he  was  trying  to  invent  a  scheme  for 
heating  and  lighting  railroad  cars  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  do  away  with  the  danger  of 
fire  in  case  of  accident.  So  far,  the  full  com- 


LANDLORD  OF  RICKETT'S  COURT.  169 

pletion  of  the  invention  escaped  him,  but  he 
worked  at  it  by  night  and  day,  not  so  much 
because  it  would  be  an  immense  boon  to  the 
age,  but  because  he  was  sure  that,  if  intro- 
duced only  on  his  own  railroad,  it  would 
boom  the  line  above  a  rival  route,  and  if 
patented,  would  make  his  fortune.  Solomon 
Meyer,  in  enumerating  the  tenants  of  the 
court,  had  mentioned  a  Mr.  Trimble,  a  poor 
inventor,  who  occupied  the  back  attic,  whom 
it  would  be  well  to  turn  out,  as  he  had  paid 
no  rent  for  some  time,  though  he  had 
promised  well,  saying  that  he  had  just  in- 
vented a  scheme  for  the  safe  heating  of  cars, 
from  which  he  hoped  to  realize  a  large  sum. 
Mr.  Armstrong  thoughtlessly  displayed  be- 
fore his  agent  the  interest  which  he  felt. 
"  Bring  the  man  to  me,"  he  exclaimed;  "if 
he  has  really  worked  out  the  problem,  it  is 
just  what  I  want." 

The  agent  at  once  paid  a  visit  to  the  poor 
inventor  and  possessed  himself  of  his  plans 
and  model,  promising  to  do  his  best  for  him. 

Mr.  Armstrong  saw  at  a  glance  that  the  in- 
ventor had  compassed  just  what  had  baffled 
him  so  long. 

"  What  will  he  take  for  this  invention  ? " 
he  asked,  eagerly. 


I  70  WITCH  WINNIE. 

11  Not  one  cent  less  as  five  t'ousand  dollar," 
replied  Mr.  Meyer. 

"That  is  a  good  round  sum,"  remarked 
Mr.  Armstrong,  "  but  the  right  to  it  is  worth 
more  than  that  to  me.  Arrange  the  papers 
for  me,  get  the  gentleman  to  sign  them,  give 
him  this  check  for  a  thousand  dollars,  and 
I  will  send  him  another,  soon,  for  four 
thousand." 

Mr.  Meyer  saw  his  opportunity  here.  He 
returned  to  Mr.  Trimble,  assured  him  that 
his  contrivance  had  been  anticipated  and 
already  patented  by  another  man:  he  was 
too  late.  The  poor  man's  disappointment 
was  intense ;  his  head  and  hands  trembled. 

"  I  thank  you  for  trying  for  me,"  he  said  ; 
"there  is  nothing  for  me  now  but  the  river. 
I  have  occupied  this  room  in  the  hope  of 
paying  my  rent  when  I  realized  from  that 
invention,  but  I  have  no  longer  any  expecta- 
tions, and  I  had  better  go  and  drown  myself." 

Then  for  the  first  time  Mr.  Meyer  realized 
that  there  was  another  person  in  the  room. 
Jim  had  come  down  to  the  court  to  see  his 
old  friends,  and  had  dropped  in  to  inquire 
after  Mr.  Trimble's  son,  a  merry  little  fellow 
who  had  been  a  playmate  of  his  in  the  old 
days.  Jim  had  retreated  into  a  corner  when 


LANDLORD  OF  RICKETS S  COURT,  171 

the  agent  called,  but  he  now  sprang  forward 
and  threw  his  arms  around  the  poor  inventor's 
neck. 

"  No,  no  ! "  he  cried  ;  "  Mr.  Meyer  will  beg 
Mr.  Rickett  to  let  you  stay  until  the  first  of 
the  month,  and  something  may  turn  up  by 
that  time." 

Some  sense  of  shame  prompted  Solomon 
Meyer  to  yield  to  this  request,  though  in  his 
secret  heart  he  knew  that  his  own  plans 
could  be  more  safely  carried  out  if  his  victim 
did  drown  himself;  and  the  sooner  the  better. 
Then  he  hurried  away  to  collect  rents  of  the 
new  tenants,  with  the  money  which  Mr. 
Armstrong  had  sent  Stephen  Trimble  burn- 
ing like  a  coal  in  his  pocket. 

The  contract  for  the  new  invention  was 
returned  to  Mr.  Armstrong  at  the  same  time 
with  the  estimates  of  the  different  mechanics 
for  the  improvements  of  Rickett's  Court.  It 
would  cost  three  thousand  dollars  to  put  the 
tenement  in  decent  repair,  and  this  did  not 
include  the  fire  -  escape.  Mr.  Armstrong 
whistled  as  he  added  up  the  items.  It  was 
really  not  convenient  for  him  to  place  his 
hand  on  so  much  ready  cash ;  certainly  not 
without  using  the  money  which  he  had 
placed  in  the  savings  bank  to  Adelaide's 


172  wire  if  WINNIE. 

credit.  Mr.  Meyer  stood  cringing1  before 
him,  and  Mr.  Armstrong  explained  the  situa- 
tion. 

The  agent  promptly  disapproved  of  the 
improvements.  They  would  be  a  great 
waste  of  monev.  No  one  would  rent  the 

•/ 

tenements  after  they  were  repaired,  for  it 
would  be  necessary  to  charge  a  higher  rent, 
and  tenants  able  to  pay  it,  or  desiring  bath- 
rooms and  sanitary  plumbing,  would  not 
occupy  such  a  quarter  of  the  city. 

"  But  suppose  I  do  not  charge  any  more 
rent,  but  simply  try  to  educate  my  old  ten- 
ants to  better  habits  of  life  ?  " 

Mr.  Meyer  explained  that  Mr.  Armstrong 
could  throw  away  his  money  in  that  way  if 
he  wished,  but  that  the  class  of  tenants  who 
patronized  Rickett's  Court  could  not  be 
educated.  They  preferred  filth  to  cleanli- 
ness, and,  however  respectable  their  quarters 
were  made,  would  soon  convert  them  into 
sinks  again. 

Mr.  Armstrong  reminded  his  agent  that 
his  best  tenants  had  left  him,  that  the  house 
was  practically  deserted,  and  that  something 
must  be  done  to  attract  new  occupants. 

Mr.  Meyer  assured  him  that  applications 
had  already  been  received  for  the  rooms  in 


LANDLORD  OF  RICKETT'S  COURT.  \  73 

their  present  state.  A'ship-load  of  emigrants 
had  just  arrived  :  Polish  Jews  and  exiled 
Russians,  who  had  been  imprisoned  as  Nihi- 
lists, and  who  had  suffered  such  barbarities 
that  Rickett's  Court,  horrible  as  it  was,  seem- 
ed positively  comfortable  to  them." 

Mr.  Armstrong-  hesitated.  He  did  not 
like  to  give  up  his  scheme  of  renovation  ; 
still,  there  were  the  papers  waiting  for  his 
signature  for  the  transfer  of  the  invention, 
and  this  he  had  decided  he  must  have  ;  it  was 
sure  to  bring  in  a  great  deal  of  money,  and 
another  year  he  could  much  better  afford 
to  make  these  improvements.  He  decided, 
reluctantly,  that  he  would  put  them  off  for 
the  present. 

"  I  will  have  a  fire-escape  put  up,"  he  said 
to  his  agent,  "  and  we  will  do  the  rest  as 
soon  as  possible." 

Solomon  Meyer  shrugged  his  shoulders. 
"There  is  no  danger  of  fire,"  he  said,  "  and 
I  was  about  to  propose  that  you  take  out  a 
fire  insurance  policy  on  that  building ;  that 
cost  about  the  same,  and  much  more  sensible." 

Mr.  Armstrong  thought  a  moment.  "If 
the  danger  of  fire  is  sufficient  to  warrant  me 
in  insuring,  it  is  also  great  enough  to  make 
furnishing  the  fire-escape  an  imperative 


I  74  WITCH  WINNIE. 

duty.  I  insist  on  your  seeing  that  one  is 
ad  justed  "immediately.  You  may  also  take 
out  an  insurance  policy  for  twenty  thou- 
sand. See  if  Mr.  Trimble  can  wait  for  the 
rest  of  his  money  until  the  first  of  the  month. 
(The  agent's  face  fell.)  You  have  given  him 
my  check  for  one  thousand  ;  he  ought  to  be 
willing  to  wait  a  few  days  for  the  rest.  If 
he  is  not  satisfied,  tell  him  to  come  down 
and  see  me,  and  we'll  come  to  some  agree- 
ment." 

This  was  exactly  what  Solomon  Meyer 
did  not  wish.  "  I  will  try  my  best  to  make 
him  sign  the  papers  on  those  terms,"  he  said, 
and  carried  them  away  to  his  own  den, 
where  he  forged  the  name  of  Stephen  Trim- 
ble to  both  contract  and  check.  He  found 
no  difficulty  in  cashing  the  check,  for  Mr. 
Armstrong's  name  was  well  known,  though 
Stephen  Trimble's  was  not. 

And  in  the  mean  time  the  poor  inventor 
sat  in  his  garret  trying  to  think.  His  wife 
was  in  the  hospital,  and  his  little  son  busied 
himself  with  washing  the  supper  dishes.  It 
was  not  a  heavy  task,  for  their  supper  had 
consisted  only  of  some  cold  griddle-cakes 
which  the  flap-jack  man  had  given  them. 
When  the  boy  had  finished  his  work  he 


LANDLORD  OF  RICKETT'S  COURT. 

crept  close  to  his  father  and  laid  his  head  on 
his  knee. 

"  Why  don't  you  light  the  lamp?"  Mr. 
Trimble  asked,  rousing  himself. 

"There  isn't  any  oil,  daddy." 

"  No  matter.  I  can  think  better  in  the 
dark,  and  you  had  better  go  to  bed." 

"  I  am  going  out  pretty  soon  to  help  the 
flap-jack  man  wheel  his  cart." 

"  Very  well,  Lovey,  if  he  is  a  good  man ;  I 
don't  want  you  to  do  anything  wrong." 

"  He's  good  to  me,  daddy." 

"  I'm  glad  of  that  ;  you  need  a  friend,  and 
you  may  need  one  more."  He  kissed  his 
little  boy  as  he  went  out — an  unwonted  ac- 
tion on  the  father's  part — and  waited  until  he 
was  sure  that  the  child  had  left  the  building, 
then  rose,  with  a  desperate  look  upon  his 
face,  and  stepped  out  on  the  landing.  The 
house  was  very  full  now  ;  people  had  been 
coming  for  two  days  past  with  great  bales 
of  foul  clothing,  offensive  with  odors  of  the 
steerage,  and  had  packed  into  the  already 
dirty  rooms.  It  was  an  unusually  warm  night 
for  spring,  and  the  house  was  unbearably 
close.  The  tenants  had  resorted  to  the 
roof,  and  were  sitting  under  the  stars,  try- 
ing in  vain  to  find  fresh  air,  and  screaming 


I  76  WITCH  WINNIE. 

and  scolding1  at   one   another   in  a  strange, 
harsh  language. 

Stephen  Trimble  was  about  to  descend 
the  staircase,  when  two  men  of  unpleasant 
aspect  stopped  hirn. 

"  You  are  the  machinist  who  lives  on  the 
top  floor  ? " 

"  Yes." 

"  Have  you  time  for  a  little  job  ?" 

"Plenty  of  time.  Thank  God! "he  ad- 
ded, mentally,  "who  has  sent  me  help  in 
time." 

'  Then  come  down-stairs  with  us :  we  are 
your  neighbors,  and  are  just  under  you." 

"  What  do  you  want  me  to  do  ?  " 

"  We'll  show  you." 

The  men  admitted  him  to  their  room, 
and  carefully  locked  the  door  behind  them. 
One  of  them  struck  a  light,  and  in  s"  doing 
dropped  a  match  upon  the  floor.  The  other 
sprang  upon  it  quickly,  ground  it  out  with 
his  heel,  and  cursed  him  for  his  careless- 
ness. Stephen  Trimble  looked  about  him, 
and  saw  that  one  end  of  the  room  was 
piled  with  boxes  and  tin  cans,  one  of  which 
was  open,  showing  a  compound  slightly 
resembling-  maple  sugar.  A  table  stood 
before  the  low  window,  and  on  it  was  appa- 


LANDLORD  OF  RICKETT'S  COURT. 

ratus  or  machinery  of  some  sort.  The  first 
man  placed  his  candle  on  the  table,  and 
drew  up  a  packing-box  for  Mr.  Trimble  to 
sit  upon.  There  was  no  other  furniture  in 
the  room. 

"  You  do  not  live  here  ?"  said  the  inventor. 

"No,"  replied  the  first  man,  who  consti- 
tuted himself  the  spokesman  for  both ;  "  it 
isn't  a  sweet  place  to  live  in.  We  hire  it  as 
a  workshop.  You  see,  we  are  perfecting  a 
sort  of  torpedo.  You've  heard  of  the  sub- 
marine torpedoes  that  did  such  good  service 
in  blowing  up  the  Turkish  ships  in  the  Russo- 
Turkish  war  ?  " 

"  Oh  yes,"  replied  Stephen  Trimble,  much 
interested.  "  I  thought  that  stuff  looked 
like  dynamite!  So  you  are  inventing  a  new 
torpedo,  which  you  mean  to  sell  the  Govern- 
ment ?  That's  a  good  idea.  They  are  think- 
ing of  increasing  the  navy,  and  it's  always 
better  to  deal  with  the  Government  than 
with  private  individuals." 

The  silent  man  nudged  his  partner  and 
remarked,  "Yes,  we're  agoin'  to  deal  with 
the  Government.  That's  a  good  way  to  put 
it." 

The  other  man  made  an  impatient  gesture, 
and  proceeded  to  explain  a  small  machine  to 


12 


I  78  WITCH  WINNIE. 

Mr.  Trimble.  "  You  don't  exactly  under- 
stand my  friend,"  he  said,  "but  no  matter. 
This  kind  of  a  torpedo  isn't  of  the  sub- 
marine kind;  we  pack  the  explosives  here, 
matches  here,  friction  paper  just  beside  them; 
but  just  here  we  are  stuck,  and  we  need  you 
or  some  other  mechanic  to  show  us  how  the 
thing  can  be  set  off  by  electricity,  the  opera- 
tor to  touch  a  button  at  a  distance." 

Mr.  Trimble  bent  himself  to  an  examina- 
tion of  the  contrivance.  He  asked  several 
questions,  and  as  his  scrutiny  continued,  his 
expression  of  satisfaction  changed  to  one  of 
mistrust  and  alarm.  Suddenly  he  sprang 
from  his  seat  and  pushed  the  model  from 
him.  "That  is  an  infernal -machine  !"  he 
exclaimed. 

"  That's  about  the  long  and  the  short  of 
it,"  said  the  man,  calmly. 

"  Then  I  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  it," 
and  he  turned  toward  the  door. 

"  Hold  on,  my  friend,  ain't  you  a  trifle  in  a 
hurry  ?  All  we  want  you  to  do  is  to  fix  that 
attachment  for  us,  and  if  you  won't  do  it 
some  other  man  will,  but  we're  willing  to  pay 
you  a  hundred  dollars  for  the  job.  That's  a 
goodish  sum  to  pay,  if  the  job  is  a  little  queer, 
but  I  take  it  you're  used  to  doing  queer 


LANDLORD  OF  RICKETT'S  COURT.  \  Jg 

things  by  the  big1  checks  that  pass  through 
your  hands." 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?"  Stephen  Trimble 
asked,  with  some  indignation. 

"  Oh !  you  needn't  pretend  innocence  and 
poverty.  A  man  doesn't  scatter  round 
thousand-dollar  checks  who's  as  poor  as  you 
pretend  to  be,  or  as  good,  either." 

"  Tell  me  what  you  mean." 

"  Now  don't  tell  us  you  know  nothing  of 
a  check  for  a  thousand  dollars  which  we 
happened  to  see  in  the  pocket-book  of  the 
agent  of  this  building  when  he  dropped  in 
here  to  collect  the  rent." 

"I  never  saw  a  check  for  a  thousand  dol- 
lars in  my  life." 

"  If  you  don't  believe  me,  ask  that  sharp 
little  boy  of  yours.  It  was  he  who  first  let 
me  know  there  was  a  scientific  man  in  the 
building.  He  saw  me  unpacking  my  ma- 
chine. I  happened  to  leave  the  door  open 
just  a  minute.  I  never  saw  such  a  sharp  little 
fellow.  In  he  comes  and  says,  '  My  father 
makes  machines  too.  He's  going  to  make 
us  awful  rich  some  day.' 

"  After  that  he  got  in  the  way  of  knock- 
ing at  the  door  and  asking  to  see  my  ma- 
chinery. I  thought  it  would  be  a  good  idea 


WITCH  WINNIE. 


to  let  him,  for  he  is  too  little  to  suspect  any- 
thing, and  I  could  stuff  him  with  the  idea 
that  I  was  making-  a  new  kind  of  telegraph, 
for  I  was  pretty  sure  that  he  would  tell  it 
around,  and  that  people  would  believe  it  and 
think  there  couldn't  be  anything  shady  in 
what  I  was  doing  if  I  let  anybody  and  every- 
body have  the  freedom  of  the  room. 

"  Well,  the  day  I'm  speaking  of,  your  little 
chap  was  sitting  there  turning  the  crank  of 
that  machine  just  as  cheerful  as  if  it 
wouldn't  have  blown  him  to  kingdom  come 
if  the  attachment  had  only  been  on,  when 
in  come  another  little  feller  who  had  been 
looking  for  him.  'See  here,  'says  my  partner, 
'  there's  getting  to  be  too  many  children 
here  ;  we  don't  keep  a  Sunday-school,  we 
don't.'  They  were  just  going  to  leave,  when 
the  agent  he  come  in  with  the  rent  contract 
for  us  to  sign.  Well,  the  boys  lingered 
round,  full  of  curiosity,  as  boys  are,  and  we 
signed  the  paper  and  handed  over  the  cash. 
Mr.  Meyer  in  stuffing  it  away  in  his  pocket- 
book  brought  to  light  that  thousand-dollar 
check  I  was  telling  you  about.  He  fumbled 
to  hide  it,  but  it  dropped  on  the  floor,  and  a 
little  gust  of  wind  carried  it  over  to  where 
the  boys  were.  The  oldest  boy  —  Jim,  I  think 


LANDLORD  OF  RICKETT*  S  COURT.  I  g  I 

your  son  called  him — picked  it  up,  and  took 
a  good  look  at  it.  '  Hullo  ! '  says  he,  'here's 
your  father's  name,  Lovey.  "  Pay  to  the  order 
of  Stephen  Trimble  one  thousand  dollars  "  ! ' 
The  agent  he  just  made  one  dive  for  that 
check,  with  his  fist  lifted  as  though  he  were 
going  to  strike  the  boy,  who  dropped  the 
check,  and  both  the  little  shavers  scooted, 
and  none  too  soon  either,  for  Meyer  looked 
mad  enough  to  kill  the  youngster,  though 
he  tried  to  laugh  it  off,  and  turned  the  check 
over  and  showed  me  that  it  was  his  fast 
enough,  for  it  was  endorsed  on  the  back, 
'  Pay  to  the  order  of  Solomon  Meyer.'  ' 

Stephen  Trimble  put  his  hand  to  his  head 
in  a  dazed  way.  "  You  are  fooling  me,"  he 
said. 

"  Not  we,  but  somebody  is,  if  you  don't 
know  anything  about  it.  Well,  if  you  are  not 
the  bloated  bondholder  we  took  you  for, 
perhaps  you'll  consider  our  little  offer?" 

"  No,  gentlemen,  not  to-night  at  least  ; 
give  me  time  to  think  it  over.  One  bad  man 
may  have  wronged  me,  but  I've  no  call  to 
go  against  the  law." 

"  Oh  yes,  take  plenty  of  time  " — and  they 
opened  the  door.  Some  one  was  knocking 
at  Stephen  Trimble's  own  room.  It  was  the 


1 82  WITCH  WIXNIE. 

flap-jack   man,  and   he   had  a  white,  scared 
face. 

"  What  is  the  matter  ?  "  asked  the  inventor. 

"Lovey's  been — " 

j 

"  Run  over  ?  "  gasped  the  poor  father. 

"  No;  arrested." 

Stephen  Trimble  gave  one  exclamation  of 
horror — then  asked,  "What's  he  done?" 

"  Nothing  but  wheeling  my  cart;  they'd 
have  caught  me,  too,  but  I  cut  and  run. 
This  is  a  pretty  country  where  one  is  arrested 
for  trying  to  earn  an  honest  living  !" 

This  was  the  last  straw.  Stephen  Trimble 
had  said  that  he  had  no  reason  to  resist  the 
law,  but  he  could  not  hold  to  that  now. 
He  staggered  feebly  down-stairs,  knocked 
at  the  door  of  the  dynamiters,  and  said. 
"  I've  come  back  sooner  than  I  thought  I 
would.  Give  me  five  dollars  in  advance,  and 
I'll  undertake  that  business  of  yours  to-mor- 
row, and  maybe  I'll  get  up  a  little  infernal- 
machine  for  my  own  use  at  the  same  time, 
but  just  now  I  must  find  my  boy." 

The  man  handed  him  some  greasy  bills. 
"  You  look  sick,"  he  said.  "  You  had  better 
go  down  to  the  free-lunch  counter  at  the 
saloon,  and  have  a  good  square  meal." 

Stephen  Trimble  went  and  ate  and   drank 


LANDLORD  OF  RICKETT'S  COURT.  18? 

o 

to  excess.  He  did  not  look  for  his  little  son, 
and  he  did  not  return  to  the  dynamiters'  the 
next  morning,  for  he  was  drunk — and  drunk 
for  three  days  thereafter.  Then  he  sobered 
down  and  applied  himself  to  the  task  which 
they  had  set  him — a  task  intended  to  bring 
ruin  to  the  class  which  had  wronged  him. 
He  knew  the  aims,  now,  of  the  men  for  whom 
he  was  working,  and  he  believed  that  he  sym- 
pathized with  them.  They  told  him  how 
they  ha.d  borne  imprisonment  and  torture 
for  no  wrong  in  Russia,  and  had  come  to 
this  country  expecting  to  find  it  the  land  of 
justice  and  kindness,  but  had  met  only  the 
same  tyranny  of  the  rich  over  the  poor — the 
rich,  who  cared  for  nothing  but  their  own 
pleasures,  and  ground  the  poor  under  their 
chariot  wheels. 

As  he  worked  he  thought  of  his  own  pri- 
vate wrongs,  and  determined  that  as  soon  as 
his  task  was  done  he  would  seek  out  the 
man  who  had  defrauded  him.  He  was  sure 
now  that  the  check  which  the  men  had  seen 
had  something  to  do  with  his  invention,  but 
he  believed  that  the  true  criminal  was  some 
one  behind  Solomon  Meyer,  the  man  to 
whom  the  agent  said  he  had  given  his  inven- 
tion— the  landlord  of  Rickett's  Court.  It  was 


184  WITCH  WINNIE. 

like  a  man  who  would  compel  human  beings 
to  live  in  such  a  state  as  this  to  commit  such 
a  fraud.  He  would  hunt  him  down  present- 
ly, and  in  the  name  of  his  tenants,  as  well  as 
in  his  own  cause,  wreak  such  revenge  that 
the  ears  of  those  who  heard  should  tingle. 

The  landlord  of  Rickett's  Court,  all  un- 
conscious of  the  volcano  upon  which  he  was 
treading,  attended  the  closing  exercises  of 
Madame's  school,  and  listened  with  pride 
to  his  daughter's  prize  essay  on  "The  Dan- 
gerous Classes." 

There  was  a  quotation  from  Ruskin  at  the 
close  which  pricked  his  heart  a  little,  and 
made  him  regret  that  it  was  not  convenient 
to  carry  out  his  good  intentions  just  at  pres- 
ent. How  charming  she  looked  in  the 
white  India  silk,  and  how  well  she  read  that 
final  quotation ! 

"  If  you  can  fix  some  conception  of  a  true 
human  state  of  life  to  be  striven  for — life  for 
all  men  as  for  yourselves — if  you  can  deter- 
mine some  honest  and  simple  order  of  exist- 
ence following  those  trodden  ways  of  wis- 
dom, which  are  pleasantness,  and  seeking 
those  quiet  and  withdrawn  paths,  which  are 
peace  ;  then,  and  so  sanctifying  wealth  into 
'  commonwealth,'  all  your  art,  your  literature, 


LANDLORD  OF  RICKETT S  COURT.  185 

your  daily  labors,  your  domestic  affection, 
and  citizen's  duty,  will  join  and  increase  into 
one  magnificent  harmony.  You  will  know, 
then,  how  to  build  well  enough  ;  you  will 
build  with  stone  well,  but  with  flesh  better — 
temples  not  made  with  hands,  but  riveted 
of  hearts,  and  that  kind  of  marble,  crimson- 
veined,  is  indeed  eternal." 

Mr.  Armstrong  entirely  ruined  a  new  pair 
of  kid  gloves  in  applauding  his  daughter. 

He  consigned  her  to  Mrs.  Roseveldt  for 
the  summer,  and  in  reply  to  that  lady's 
urgent  request  that  he  would  visit  them,  ex- 
plained that  Narragansett  Pier  was  fraught 
with  so  many  memories  that  he  had  never 
been  able  to  revisit  it.  "  I  own  a  cottage  a 
little  distance  from  the  town,"  he  said.  "  It 
was  there  that  both  my  children  were  born. 
We  were  in  the  habit  of  occupying  it  every 
summer,  but  since  my  wife's  death  I  have 
neither  been  able  to  bring  myself  to  go 
there,  or  to  rent  it,  and  it  has  remained 
closed." 

"  O  papa,  will  you  not  let  me  have  it  for> 
the  summer  ?  "  Adelaide  asked. 

"  Certainly,  Puss,  if  you  want  to  fit  it  up 
for  a  studio  or  that  sort  of  thing  ;  but  it  is  in 
a  lonely  wood,  and  you  must  have  suitable 


1 86  WITCH  WI\7NIE. 

company  with  you  if  you  think  of  staying 
there.  If  you  manage  to  change  the  place 
and  infuse  new  life  in  it,  I  may  bring  myself 
to  look  in  upon  you  there.  At  all  events,  I 
will  join  you  at  the  Roseveldts'  as  soon  as  I 
can ;  just  now  important  business  detains 
me." 

The  business,  as  we  know,  was  the  secur- 
ing and  putting  in  service  of  the  new  inven- 
tion for  heating  and  lighting  cars.  It  was 
necessary  for  him  to  go  to  Washington  to 
arrange  for  the  patent,  and  it  was  on  this 
trip  that  a  clue  most  unexpectedly  fell  into 
his  hands  which  seemed  to  lead  to  a  startling 
discovery — a  discovery  which  was  more  to 
him  than  any  fortune  which  the  invention 
could  bring. 

It  all  came  about  through  a  scrap  of  paper 
which  fell  in  his  way  as  he  was  looking 
about  his  hotel  bedroom  for  a  piece  of  wrap- 
ping-paper with  which  to  cover  the  model 
of  the  machine  which  he  was  about  to  carry 
to  the  Patent  Office.  He  could  find  noth- 
ing for  this  purpose  but  an  old  newspaper 
which  lined  a  bureau  drawer.  In  this  he 
wrapped  his  machine,  and  took  his  seat  in  the 
street-car,  the  package  resting  on  his  knees. 
His  fellow-passengers  were  uninteresting, 


LANDLORD  OF  RICKETS S  COURT.  187 

and  he  fixed  his  gaze  upon  his  package.  A 
heading  to  one  of  the  shorter  articles  in  the 
old  newspaper  attracted  his  attention. 

"  Remarkable  Case  of  Loss  of  Identity  ; 
the  Doctors  Puzzled." 

He  read  on  aimlessly. 

"The  physicians  of Hospital  have  an 

interesting  case.  One  of  their  patients,  a 
lady,  was  injured  at  the  burning  of  the 
Henrietta  in  the  Sound  in  October  .  last. 
This  accident  has  resulted  in  a  partial  loss  of 
memory,  and  total  confusion  as  to  her  iden- 
tity. The  unfortunate  lady  is  unable  to  give 
her  own  name  or  that  of  her  friends.  A  re- 
markable circumstance  in  the  case  is  the  fact 
that,  through  all  the  horror  and  suffering  of 
the  accident,  which  has  resulted  in  a  partial 
loss  of  her  reason,  the  poor  lady  kept  her  in- 
fant boy  safely  clasped  in  her  arms,  and  the 
child,  entirely  uninjured,  was  rescued  with 
her.  Any  person  who  believes  that  he  rec- 
ognizes a  lost  friend  in  this  case  is  re- 
quested to  communicate  with  Dr.  H.  C. 
Carver,  of  the Hospital." 

Mr.  Armstrong  read  this  item  over  and 
over  again.  He  had  believed  that  his  wife 
and  child  were  lost  in  the  burning  of  this 
steamer.  Was  it  possible  that  they  still 


I  88  WITCH  WINNIE. 

lived  ?  and  what  had  ten  years  of  separation 
done  for  them  ? 

The  horse-car  passed  the  Patent  Office, 
but  he  did  not  see  it.  He  sat  staring  at  the 
newspaper  until  the  car  brought  him  to 
the  end  of  the  route  and  the  conductor 
touched  him  on  the  shoulder.  "  Pardon  me, 
sir;  I  forgot  you  wished  to  stop  at  the  Patent 
Office." 

Mr.  Armstrong  woke  from  his  reverie. 
"No,"  he  exclaimed,  "at  the  railway  sta- 
tion. I  want  to  catch  the  next  train  for  New 
York — none  until  4  o'clock  ?  Then  I  will  go 
to  the  Patent  Office  ;  but,  first,  tell  me  where 
I  can  send  a  telegram." 


CHAPTER  XL 


THE  GUESTS  OF  THE  ELDER  BROTHER. 

"  And  man  may  work  with  the  great  God  ;  yea,  ours 
This  privilege  ;  all  others,  how  beyond  ! 

*  *  *  *  -x-  # 

Effectually  the  planet  to  subdue, 
And  break  old  savagehood  in  claw  and  tusk; 
To  draw  our  fellows  up  as  with  a  cord 
Of  love  unto  their  high-appointed  place, 
Till  from  our  state  barbaric  and  abhorred 
We  do  arise  unto  a  royal  race, 
To  be  the  blest  companions  of  the  Lord." 

— HENRY  G.  SUTTON. 

FEW  days  be- 
f  o  r  e  school 
closed  saw 
the  Home 
filled  for  the 


summer. 

The  gath- 
ering" in  was 
achieved 
principally 
by  Jim,  Mrs. 
Hetterman, 
and  Vicenzo 
Amati. 

Vincenzo 
was  an  Italian 
of  the  better 
sort.  He  had 

lived   in   America  long  enough    to   acquire 

189 


190 


WITCH  WINNIE. 


some  of  our  ways  of  life.  He  earned  a  fairly 
good  salary  as  cook,  and  he  had  kept  his 
little  family  in  comparative  comfort  in  the 
best  apartment  which  Rickett's  Court  had  to 
offer,  until  the  death  of  his  pretty  wife  Gio- 
vanina.  Since  then  the  three  little  girls  had 
done  their  best,  but  there  was  a  woeful 
change.  They  became  slatternly  in  appear- 
ance, and  the  two  rooms  grew  dirty  and 
cheerless.  Worse  than  this,  the  girls  affiliated 
with  a  lower  class  of  their  own  nationality, 
the  children  of  the  rag-pickers  in  the  base- 
ment, already  referred  to,  who  lived  upon  the 
chances  of  garbage  barrels  and  beggary,  and 
who  spent  much  of  their  time  in  picking 
over  and  assorting  the  old  bones,  rags, 
paper,  and  other  refuse  dumped  each  night 
upon  the  floor  of  their  sleeping  and  living 
room,  as  the  result  of  their  father's  daily  toil. 
These  children  were  sickly  and  miserable, 
tainted  morally  as  well  as  physically  ;  and 
their  parents,  who  were  contented  with  their 
disgusting  lives,  were  laying  up  money,  in 
fact,  for  a  return  to  Italy.  But  Vincenzo  was 
not  contented  that  his  children  should  live  in 
such  fashion  or  have  contaminating  associ- 
ates. He  was  one  of  the  first  applicants  to 
place  his  children  in  the  Home,  paying 


GUESTS  OF  THE  ELDER  BROTHER.     191 

cheerfully  the  highest  sum  asked  for  board, 
it  having  been  early  decided  that  the  rates 
for  each  child  should  be  proportioned  to  the 
wages  of  the  parent. 

Then  several  children  previously  "  farmed 
out "  to  Mrs.  Grogan,  whose  mothers  were 
servants  in  good  families,  were  received  on 
similar  terms. 

A  German  woman,  a  Mrs.  Rumple, 
brought  her  two  children,  saying  that  she 
was  going  West,  but,  as  she  knew  not  what 
fortune  awaited  her  there,  wished  to  place 
her  children  in  the  Home  until  she  could 
send  for  them.  She  paid  their  board  in  ad- 
vance for  the  summer,  taking  the  money  in 
coin  from  her  petticoat  pocket. 

"  Why  do  you  leave  New  York  ?"  asked 
Emma  Jane  Anton. 

"  It  ish  not  de  guntry.  De  guntry  ish  a 
very  goot  guntry.  It  ish  de  beeples,"  said 
Mrs.  Rumple. 

"  What  is  the  matter  with  the  people  ?  " 
asked  Emma  Jane. 

"  I  comes  de  seas  over  a  pride,  mit  my 
man  Heinrich  Rumple;  dat  is  ten  years  aco 
alreaty.  Heinrich  is  one  very  goot  man;  he 
trinks  only  one  mug  of  lager  every  days;  he 
comes  every  Saturday  home  mit  his  moneys, 


Ig2  WITCH  WINNIE. 

and  oh,  mine  fraulein,  how  he  luf  me  ! 
Pretty  soon  py  und  py  de  peer  ish  not  coot, 
and  he  takes  one  leetle  glass  of  schnapps  in- 
stead. Den  de  leetle  babies  come,  one,  tree, 
four,  six,  and  it  cost  all  de  time  more  to  live, 
and  he  pring  all  de  time  less  moneys  mit  de 
Saturdays.  But  he  trinks  all  de  time  more 
schnapps — one,  two,  tree,  four  glass  de  every 
days,  and  I  know  not  how  much  de  Sun- 
days, and  I  tink  he  not  luf  me  now  so  much 
as  sometimes.  Den  de  sickness  comes,  de 
shills  and  de  fevers,  and  we  all  de  time 
shake,  shake,  and  first  one  little  children  die, 
and  den  anudder,  all  but  Carl  and  de  little 
Gracie  ;  and  mine  man  not  haf  any  moneys 
to  py  medicines,  put  he  haf  blenty  to  py 
schnapps,  and  he  all  de  time  trink  more  as  is 
goot  for  him,  and  one  night  he  comes  home 
and  he  knows  not  vat  he  does,  and  he 
sthrikes  de  leetle  Gracie,  and  she  is  long  time 
very  sick.  Mine  soul !  I  tinks  she  vill  die, 
and  Heinrich  Rumple — dot  ish  my  man — he 
puts  his  name  mit  de  bledge,  and  says  he 
vill  not  any  times  trink  any  more,  und  de 
Gracie  gets  veil,  und  ve  are  all  wery  happy, 
but  he  all  de  same  trinks  again  shust  so  pad 
as  ever.  Py  und  py  pretty  soon  I  says, '  Hein- 
rich Rumple,  I  cannot  sthand  dis  nonsense 


GUESTS  OF  THE  ELDER  BROTHER. 


193 


any  more  ain't  it.  I  cannot  haf  dose  childer 
all  their  bones  broke  any  more;  [  put  dem 
in  one  'sylum  avay  from  you,  and  I  goes  in 
dot  Western  land  seek  my  fortune.1 ' 

"  And  so  you  left  your  husband  ?  "  asked 
Miss  Anton. 

"  Ya.  I  left  mine  man,"  replied  the  wo- 
man. 

"  And  don't  you  suppose  he  will  ever 
reform,  and  send  you  money  to  come  back 
to  him  ? " 

"  No,  I  s'pose  so.  He  said  to  me  dat 
day:  '  Barbara,  it  is  de  beeples.  I  haf  too 
many  friends,  and  I  trinks  mit  dem  all  de 
time,  too  often  ;  I  tinks  if  I  am  in  de  West, 
where  I  know  nobodys,  I  would  be  a  petter 
husband  to  you  alretty.'  And  so  he  goed 
away  mit  me." 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  you  and  your 
husband  are  leaving  New  York  for  the  West 
together  ?  " 

"  Ya.  I  left  him,  and  he  say,  '  Barbara, 
you  has  right  ;  I  leaf  myself,  too.'  But  I 
cannot  trust  him  alretty  mit  de  chillern.  I 
leaf  dem  one  six  month,  to  try  what  come 
of  it  all." 

"I  hope  your  husband  has  indeed  left  his 
worst  self  behind  him,"  said  Emma  Jane  ; 


1 94 


WITCH  WINNIE. 


and  on  suitable  security  being  provided,  the 
Rumple  children  were  admitted. 

In  almost  all  cases  it  was  not  the  desper- 
ately and  hopelessly  pauperized  and  vicious — • 
who  were  provided  for  by  reformatories 
and  the  city  charities — whom  they  helped, 
but  the  class  just  above  them,  who  were 
slipping  over  the  brink,  and  would  surely 
have  fallen  and  contributed  to  swell  the  dan- 
gerous classes,  if  not  reached  by  this  timely 
assistance. 

"  Prevention  is  better  than  cure,"  and  it  was 
the  hope  of  the  "  King's  Daughters  "  to  res- 
cue the  innocent  children  of  decent  and 
struggling  parents  before  they  should  need 
reformation. 

Rosaria  Ricos,  the  Cuban  heiress,  endowed 
a  bed  to  be  used  for  some  child  whose  par- 
ents could  do  nothing  whatever  toward  its 
support.  She  wished  to  have  more  free 
beds,  but  Miss  Prillwitz  showed  her  how 
much  better  it  was  for  the  parents  to  do 
something,  however  little  it  might  be,  for 
their  children,  and  not  be  pauperized  by 
having  every  feeling  of  independence  and 
ability  to  care  for  their  own  taken  from  them. 
Exceptional  circumstances  might  arise, 
when  a  mother  out  of  employment,  could 


GUESTS  OF  THE  ELDER  BROTHER. 


195 


wisely  be  helped  over  a  great  exigency, 
but  she  advised  that  Miss  Ricos's  "  Emer- 
gency Bed  "  be  given  for  short  periods  only. 
It  was  first  occupied  by  Lovell  Trimble, 
familiarly,  but  most  inappropriately,  nick- 
named by  the  other  children,  Lovey  Dimple. 
He  was  a  homely,  unprepossessing  boy,  with 
a  pug  nose  and  a  disproportionately  large 
head.  His  father  was  the  unsuccessful  in- 
ventor of  Rickett's  Court,  with  whom  we 
are  already  acquainted.  He  spent  all  his 
former  earnings  in  securing  patents  for  va- 
rious great  inventions  which  were  to  make 

o 

all  their  fortunes.  His  mother  had  been  a 
shop-girl  in  a  large  dry-goods  store,  and  had 
supported  the  family  until  long-continued 
standing  had  sent  her  to  the  hospital.  Lovey 
had  tried  to  take  her  place  in  supporting  his 
father  by  wheeling  "  the  machine  "  of  a  hot- 
flap-jack  seller,  while  the  flap-jack  man  de- 
voted his  attention  to  frying  the  cakes,  flip- 
ping them  on  to  a  plate,  and  serving  them 
up  with  a  dab  of  butter  and  a  lake  of  mo- 
lasses. They  did  their  best  business  winter 
nights  after  the  theatres  were  out — sheltered 
from  the  snow  by  an  awning  or  a  conven- 
ient door-way,  and  they  knew  which  places 
of  amusement  were  out  first,  and  would 


196  WITCH  WINNIE. 

race  at  ambulance  speed  from  Harrigan 
and  Hart's  to  the  Bowery,  to  secure  the  cus- 
tom of  each.  Lovey  liked  the  business,  for, 
besides  the  pay,  after  the  day's  trade  was 
over  the  flap-jack  man  let  him  eat  whatever 
was  left,  for  the  batter  would  not  keep,  and 
he  had  always  a  few  cakes  to  carry  home 
to  his  father  of  the  full  brain  and  empty 
stomach. 

But  one  night  a  member  of  the  Society 
for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children, 
who  had  had  his  eye  on  the  flap-jack  man  as 
employing  too  young  a  child  for  labor  in- 
volving so  much  privation,  descended  upon 
the  cart  with  a  policeman ;  and  the  flap-jack 
man  having  discreetly  absconded,  they  ar- 
rested Lovey  in  default  of  his  employer. 
Miss  Prillwitz  appeared  in  court  at  Jim's 
request,  for  in  some  way  Jim  had 
heard  of  his  friend's  apprehension,  and  hav- 
ing ascertained  that  Mr.  Trimble  had  gone 
upon  a  spree,  she  rashly,  but  not  unnaturally, 
decided  that  nothing  was  to  be  expected 
from  such  a  father,  and  next  paid  a  visit  to 
Mrs.  Trimble,  at  the  hospital.  Learning 
there  that  there  was  a  prospect  of  her  cure, 
she  offered  Lovey  the  hospitality  of  the 
Emergency  Bed  until  his  mother  should  be 


GUESTS  OF  THE  ELDER  BROTHER. 


197 


able  to  work  once  more.  This  case  estab- 
lished relations  between  the  Society  for  the 
Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children  and  the 
new  Home;  and  a  little  girl — who  had  been 
forced  to  sell  lead-pencils  on  the  street  at 
night  by  a  drunken  mother,  though  her 
father  was  a  brakeman,  who  could  well  af- 
ford to  support  her — was  committed  to  the 
Home  through  the  agency  of  the  Society  ; 
and  the  father,  on  being  notified,  approved 
the  action,  and  paid  her  board  regularly. 

One  desirable  result  of  the  Home  was  its 
effect  on  Emma  Jane's  character.  From  be- 
ing, as  she  had  truly  said  of  herself,  an 
unlovely  and  unloving  girl  who  disliked 
children,  her  nature  sweetened  by  contact 
with  them  ;  and  taking  them  one  by  one  into 
her  heart,  it  broadened  and  softened,  till  an 
expression  which  was  almost  madonna-like 
trembled  in  a  face  which  had  been  grim 
and  repellent.  Lovey  Dimple  was  the  first 
to  scale  the  fortress  of  Emma  Jane's  affec- 
tions. He  inherited  his  father's  aptitude  for 
mechanics.  Among  the  old  books  and 
papers  contributed  to  the  Home  were, 
strangely  enough,  some  bound  volumes  of 
the  Scientific  American  and  a  few  stray 
Patent  Office  reports,  and  over  these  he 


WITCH  WINNIE. 


pored  until  his  head  seemed  full  of  revolv- 
ing cog-wheels  and  pulleys,  and  pistons,  and 
his  heart  beat  like  a  stationary  engine.  He 
was  certain  that  he  would  be  an  inventor 
some  day,  like  Ericsson  or  Edison  ;  indeed, 
he  was  an  inventor  already,  for  had  he  not 
constructed  unnumbered  mill-wheels  and 
windmills,  weathercocks  and  whirligigs, 
besides  taking  to  pieces  the  clock  (which  he 
could  not  get  together  again),  and  adapting 
his  mother's  sewing-machine  to  fret-saw  pur- 
poses ?  He  had  studied  every  machine  which 
he  had  seen  in  the  stores,  from  the  corn- 
sheller  to  the'  great  patent  mower,  and  be- 
lieved that  he  understood  the  action  of  each. 
"  Patent  "  was  a  word  that  stirred  his  soul, 
though  he  had  but  a  dim  conception  of  its 
meaning.  It  was  something,  his  father  had 
said,  that  the  Government  would  give  him 
if  he  invented  a  really  useful,  labor-saving 
machine,  one  which  would  "supply  a  felt 
want." 

Lovey  knew  what  a  felt  hat  was,  but  it 
was  several  days  before  he  really  knew  what 
his  father  meant  by  a  felt  want.  As  soon 
as  he  had  grasped  the  idea  he  began  in  ear- 
nest. "Mother  Halsey,"  he  asked,  "what 
part  of  your  work  bothers  you  most  ?  " 


GUESTS  OF  THE   ELDER  BROTHER.  1 99 

Mrs.  Halsey  looked  hot  and  flustered. 
Half  an  hour  before  this  she  had  put  her  room 
and  the  nursery  in  order,  had  dressed  the 
twenty-five  children;  from  combing  their  hair 
and  scrubbing  the  little  ones,  and  introducing 
them  into  each  separate  garment,  to  merely 
tying  apron-strings  and  buttoning  the  "  be- 
hind buttons  "  of  the  older  ones,  and  giving 
them  a  final  dress  review  before  starting 
them  to  the  public  school. 

In  view  of  this  state  of  affairs,  it  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at  that  Mrs.  Halsey  said  that 
dressing  the  children  gave  her  more  bother 
than  anything  else.  Lovey,  with  a  pencil 
and  paper,  sat  down  to  invent  a  machine 
which  should  do  this  for  her.  He  reflected 
that  such  a  machine  would  be  hailed  with 
delight  in  nearly  every  family,  and  if  he 
could  manage  to  sell  them  at  a  dollar  apiece 
his  fortune  was  assured.  He  took  as  his 
models  the  washing  -  machine,  a  cross  -  cut 
saw,  and  a  corn  -  sheller,  and  in  a  few 
moments  had  made  his  drawing  of  a  com- 
bination of  the  three  machines.  The  motive 
power,  he  decided,  should  be  furnished  by 
the  father  of  the  family,  who  could  turn  the 
crank;  and  on  days  when  this  was  not  con- 
venient the  smoke  from  the  cooking-stove 


2OO 


WITCH  WINNIE, 


could  be  utilized,  the  stove  pipe  being  turned 
so  that  the  smoke  should  strike  the  paddles 
of  the  main  wheel,  and  the  continuous  stream 
passing  across  the  edge  of  the  wheel  and  up 
the  chimney,  he  felt  certain,  would  turn  it. 
Just  back  of  the  machine,  and  above  it,  there 
was  to  be  a  great  hopper  into  which  the 
naked  children  could  climb  by  means  of  a 
ladder,  and  where  the  clothing  could  be 
tossed  promiscuously,  the  machine  sorting 
it  and  robing  each  child  properly.  The  cross- 
cut saw  near  the  mouth  would  shingle  each 
child's  hair,  and  save  the  trouble  of  curling, 
while  the  children,  completely  dressed,  would 
be  poured  through  this  spout  into  their 
mother's  arms. 


GUESTS  OF  THE  ELDER  BROTHER.     2OI 

Lovey  exhibited  this  drawing  to  Mrs.  Hal- 
sey  and  to  Miss  Anton,  and  begged  them  to 
show  it  to  President  Harrison  and  obtain  a 
patent  for  him  as  soon  as  possible  ;  but,  some- 
how, though  the  invention  was  received  with 
applause  and  approbation  by  the  entire  fam- 
ily, nothing  was  ever  done  about  it. 

The  droll  conceit  attracted  Emma  Jane  to 
the  boy.  "  Perhaps  some  day  he  may  be- 
come an  inventor  of  something  more  prac- 
tical," she  said,  and  ever  after  watched  him 
with  increasing  interest. 

Lovey  had  had  great  trouble  with  his 
arithmetic,  and  he  had  decided  that  a  grand 
labor-saving  machine  would  be  one  which 
would  save  a  boy  the  trouble  of  studying. 
He  thought  that  it  would  be  a  good  idea  to 
bore  a  hole  in  a  boy's  head  when  he  was 
Asleep,  introduce  the  end  of  a  funnel  into  the 
opening,  and  then  with  a  coffee-mill  grind 
up  the  usual  text-books  and  stuff  his  brains. 
He  made  a  drawing  of  this  machine  also, 
and  Merry  Twinkle  and  he  came  very  near 
trying  it  practically,  but  they  never  could 
quite  agree  as  to  who  should  be  the  operator 
and  who  should  be  operated  upon.  Lovey 
had  another  brilliant  inspiration.  He  noticed 
that  his  rubber  ball,  which  had  a  hole  m  it. 


2O2 


WITCH  WINNIE. 


had  a  remarkable  power  of  suction,  and  that 
if  he  held  the  orifice  to  his  cheek  and 
squeezed  the  ball,  when  he  let  go  it  would 
pucker  his  cheek  in  a  way  to  remind  one 
distantly  of  a  kiss.  He  imagined  that  if  the 
ball  were  drawn  out  into  a  tube,  and  that 
tube  continued  indefinitely  the  action  would 


still  be  the  same.  Here  was  a  discovery. 
How  many  separated  friends  and  lovers 
would  be  glad  to  patronize  a  kissaphone,  an 
instrument  by  which  kisses  could  be  sent 
and  actually  felt.  He  imagined  the  estab- 
lishment of  offices  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic,  and  the  laying  of  a  submarine 
tube. 


GUESTS  OF  THE  ELDER  BROTHER. 

A  young"  physician,  a  friend  of  Mrs.  Rose- 
veldt's,  was  visiting  the  Home  just  as  Lovey 
completed  this  triumph.  "  Another  inven- 
tion of  Lovey  Dimple's,"  Emma  Jane  explain- 
ed, as  the  child  handed  her  the  drawing.  Dr. 
Curtiss  came  oftener  than  the  sanitary  con- 
dition of  the  Home  really  demanded,  and  he 
was  well  acquainted  with  Lovey 's  genius  in 
this  direction. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  promptly  replied  Lovey,  "  and 
I  have  met  a  felt  want  now,  sure,"  and  then 
he  explained  the  kissaphone. 

"  Try  it  on  me,  Lovey,  and  let  me  see  how 
it  feels,"  asked  the  doctor. 

Lovey  did  so,  and  Dr.  Curtiss  made  a  wry 
face.  "  It  strikes  me  that  is  a  very  poor  sub- 
stitute for  the  genuine  article,"  he  said,  "  but 
perhaps  I  am  not  qualified  to  judge. 

"Now  if  you  could  have  a  nice  looking 
lady  operator,  and  could  attach  your  tubing 
to  the  back  of  her  head,  and  have  her  trans- 
mit the  kiss  as  the  mouthpiece  of  the  machine, 
I  should  think  your  invention  might  be  very 
popular." 

Lovey  received  this  suggestion  with  entire 
good  faith.  "  Miss  Anton,"  he  said,  beseech- 
ingly, "won't  you  act  as  mouthpiece  and  let 
me  send  a  kiss  to  Dr.  Curtiss  ?"  And  he 


204  WITCH  WINNIE. 

could  never  quite  decide  why  Emma  Jane, 
who  was  usually  so  kind,  declined  in  great 
confusion  to  render  him  this  trifling-  service. 

There  was  another  little  boy  in  the  Home 
who  made  remarkable  drawings — the  one 
already  referred  to  as  Merry  Twinkle.  All 
of  his  family,  even  the  female  portion,  were 
sea-faring  people  ;  his  grandfather  had  been 
a  sailor,  and  was  now  an  inmate  of  the 
Sailors'  Snug  Harbor.  His  mother  some- 
times took  Merry  to  visit  him  when  she  was 
back  from  a  voyage,  for  she  was  stewardess 
on  an  ocean  steamer.  His  father  had  been 
engineer  on  the  same  boat,  but  had  been 
killed  by  a  boiler  explosion,  and  Merry  had 
been  boarded  hitherto  with  Mrs.  Grogan. 

One  evening,  after  a  visit  to  his  grand- 
father, Merry  handed  Emma  Jane  a  series  of 
wonderful  marines. 

"  Grandfather  sang  me  a  very  old  song 
to-day,"  he  said.  "  It  went  this  way  : 

Two  gallant  ships  from  England  sailed  ; 

Blow  high,  blow  low,  so  sailed  we  : 
One  was  the  Princess  Charlotte,  the  other  Prince 
of  Wales, 

Cruising  down  on  the  coast  of  Barbaree. 

"  This  is  a  picture  of  the  Princess  Char- 
lotte" handing  Emma  Jane  his  drawing. 


GUESTS  OF  THE  ELDER  BROTHER.     205 

"  It  is  night,  and  the  captain  is  pacing  the 
lonely  deck;  he  has  set  his  lantern  on  a  small 
stand,  and  has  put  his  hands  in  his  pockets 
to  keep  them  warm.  The  second  verse  goes 
this  way  : 

"  Up  aloft!  up  aloft!"  our  gallant  captain  cried  ; 

Blow  high,  blow  low,  so  sailed  we. 
"  Look  ahead,  look  astern,  look  aweather,  look  alee," 

Cruising  down  on  the  coast  of  Barbaree. 

"  Oh,  I've  seen  on  ahead,  and  I've  seen  on  astern," 

Blow  high,  blow  low,  so  sailed  we; 
"  And  I  see  a  ragged  wind  and  a  lofty  ship  at  sea," 

Cruising  down  on  the  coast  of  Barbaree. 

"  Ahoy  !  ship  ahoy  !"  our  gallant  captain  cried, 

Blow  high,  blow  low,  so  sailed  we; 
"  Are  you  a  man-of-war,  or  a  privateer  ?"  says  he  ; 

Cruising  down  on  the  coast  of  Barbaree. 

"  Oh  !  I  am  no  man-of-war  or  privateer,"  says  he, 

Blow  high,  blow  low,  so  sailed  we  ; 
"  But  I  am  a  jolly  pirate  seeking  for  my  fee," 

Cruising  down  on  the  coast  of  Barbaree. 

"  This  is  the  picture  of  the  pirate  ship  and 
the  fight.  Captain  Kidd  has  cut  off  the 
head  of  one  of  the  men  who  boarded  his 
ship.  One  of  his  men  is  firing  a  cannon, 
the  rest  of  his  crew  may  be  seen  between- 
decks. 


206  WITCH  WINNIE. 

'Twas  broadside  to  broadside,  so  quickly  then  came  we  ; 

Blow  high,  blow  low,  so  sailed  we  ; 
Until  the  Princess  Charlotte  shot  her  masts  into  the  sea, 

Cruising  down  on  the  coast  of  Barbaree. 

Then  "  Quarter  !  oh,  quarter  !"  the  pirate  captain  cried; 

Blow  high,  blow  low,  so  sailed  we  ; 

But  the  quarters  that  we  gave  them  were  down  beneath 
the  sea, 

Cruising  down  on  the  coast  of  Barbaree. 

"  Grandfather  called  it  the  story  of  Captain 
Kidd,  because  he  thought  he  must  have  been 

o 

the  pirate  whose  ship  the  Princess  Charlotte 
sunk.  Captain  Kidd  was  taken  to  London 
and  hanged  in  chains,  and  I've  made  a  pict- 
ture  of  that  too." 

Emma  Jane  hardly  approved  of  the  san- 
guinary spirit  displayed  by  these  drawings, 
but  she  could  not  expect  that  the  boy's  ante- 
cedents and  surroundings  would  produce  an 
angel.  She  endeavored  to  draw  his  atten- 
tion to  gentler  subjects  for  his  pencil,  recited 
tender  and  loving  ballads,  and  changed  the 
current  of  the  boy's  thought  and  aspiration, 
realizing  that  here  was  material  which,  in 
the  fostering  atmosphere  of  Rickett's  Court, 
might  easily  develop  into  an  anarchist — a 
menace  to  the  state. 

The  Sandy  girls  were  the  last  to  be  re- 


GUESTS  OF  THE  ELDER  BROTHER.     207 

ceived  from  the  court.  The  father  had  been 
a  truckman,  but  a  heavy  box  had  fallen  upon 
him,  and  he  had  lived  in  pain  and  misery  fpr 
a  year  and  had  then  died.  Mrs.  Sandy,  by 
making"  men's  clothing,  managed  to  keep  the 
wolf  from  the  door — no,  only  Snarling  at  the 
door  with  fierce,  hungry  eyes.  All  of  her 
six  children  helped  her.  The  oldest  girl  did 
the  ironing  and  finishing  ;  the  next  child, 
a  boy,  carried  the  great  bundles  back  and 
forth  in  the  intervals  of  his  profession  as  a 
bootblack ;  the  second  girl  did  all  of  their 
poor  housework  ;  the  twins  sewed  on  but- 
tons and  pulled  out  basting  threads,  and  the 
youngest  boy  sold  newspapers,  while  Mrs. 
Sandy  herself  ran  the  sewing-machine  ten 
or  twelve  hours  in  the  day. 

When  Mrs.  Hetterman  asked  her  why  she 
did  not  give  up  this  desperate  battle  with 
the  point  of  the  needle,  and  leave  her  vile 
surroundings  to  take  service  in  some  good 
family,  she  replied  that  she  had  often  thought 
of  this,  but  she  must  keep  a  home,  however 
poor,  for  the  children.  "  The  two  boys  could 
live  at  the  Newsboys'  Lodging-House,  for 
they  earn  enough  to  support  themselves,  but 
what  would  I  do  with  my  four  girls  ?  " 

When  Mrs.   Hetterman  assured   her   that 


2O8  WITCH  WINNIE. 

there  was  a  Home  where  they  could  all  be 
cared  for  in  cleanliness,  health,  and  comfort, 
and  have  time  for  study  and  schooling  and 
industrial  education,  which  would  fit  them 
to  earn  their  own  living  in  future,  and  all 
for  a  sum  quite  within  the  means  of  any 
domestic,  she  brought  her  cramped  hand 
down  with  a  heavy  blow  upon  the  sewing- 
machine. 

"  I  don't  mind  if  I  break  every  bone  in  yer 
body,  ye  Satan's  grindstone  !"  she  said  to  the 
machine ;  "  it's  the  last  time  that  Mary 
Sandy'll  grind  soul  and  body  thin  at  ye, 
praise  be  to  a  delivering  Providence  !" 

Mrs.  Hastings,  one  of  the  managers  of  the 
Home,  had  had  great  trouble  with  incompe- 
tent and  ungrateful  servants,  and  she  gladly 
took  the  faithful  Scotch  woman  into  her 
family. 

These,  then,  were  the  guests  of  the  Elder 
Brother,  for  that  first  summer,  from  Rickett's 
Court : 

* 

1  Jim  Halsey,  American. 
3  Hettermans,  English. 

3  Amatis,  Italian. 

4  Babies  from  Mrs.  Grcgan's,  Irish. 

2  Carl  and  Gracie  Rumple,  German, 


GUESTS  OF  THE  ELDER  BROTHER.     209 

I  Lovey  Dimple,  American, 
i  Merry  Twinkle,  American. 
4  Sandy  Girls,  Scotch. 

In  all,  nineteen  children  transplanted  from 
the  filth  and  vice,  hunger  and  ignorance,  of 
the  court,  and  six  more  from  other  locali- 
ties as  bad,  to  sweet,  wholesome  surround- 
ings. It  was  thought  best  that  those  children 
of  school  age  should  attend  a  public  school 
to  avoid  "  institutionizing"  them;  and  for 
this  end  they  wore  no  uniform,  and  mingled 
freely  with  other  well-behaved  children  in 
the  park  under  Mrs.  Halsey's  motherly  super- 
vision. Their  birthdays  were  celebrated 
with  a  little  party,  with  cake  and  candles, 
and  everything  was  done  to  cultivate  a  home- 
like feeling.  They  drew  their  books  like 
other  children  from  the  children's  new  free 
circulating  library,  and  were  taught  to 
guard  them  carefully.  They  had  a  sewing 
society — in  reality  a  sewing-class — where 
boys  and  girls  were  alike  taught  to  mend 
and  darn,  to  sew  on  buttons,  and  to  make  but- 
ton-holes— all  but  the  Sandy  children,  who,  it 
was  judged,  had  served  a  long  enough  ap- 
prenticeship in  this  department,  and  were 
sent  to  Mrs.  Hetterman  to  learn  how  to  cook. 
14 


2IO  WITCH  WINNIE. 

Miss  Prillwitz  was  anxious  that  the  boys 
should  have  industrial  training,  and  brought 
the  matter  before  the  board  of  managers, 
who  entirely  agreed  with  her,  and  voted 
that  a  subscription  sent  them  by  Mr.  Arm- 
strong be  used  to  secure  a  suitable  teacher. 

It  was  just  at  this  time  that  a  letter  was 
received  from  Adelaide  announcing  that  she 
had  fitted  up  the  cottage  which  her  father 
had  placed  at  her  disposal,  and  would  like 
to  have  Mrs.  Halsey  occupy  it  with  the 
youngest  children  for  the  heated  term.  Miss 
Prillwitz  was  delighted.  Jim  was  already 
at  the  Pier  with  the  Roseveldts,  and  it 
would  be  pleasant  for  his  mother  to  be  near 
him,  and  a  fine  thing  for  the  little  girls  and 
the  babies.  This  would  leave  the  nursery 
vacant,  and  it  could  be  fitted  up  as  a  work- 
shop for  the  boys,  She  had  a  chat  with  Mrs. 
Halsey  the  day  before  she  left,  and  asked 
her  if  she  knew  of  anyone  who  could  teach 
the  boys  carpentry. 

"  Mr.  Trimble,  Lovey's  father,  is  a  perfect 
jack-of-all-trades,"  replied  Mrs.  Halsey. 

Miss  Prillwitz  was  doubtful.  "  Mr.  Trim- 
ble is  a  drunkard,"  she  said. 

"  Not  irreclaimable,  I  am  sure,"  said  Mrs. 
Halsey.  "  He  was  a  sober  man  when  I 


GUESTS  OF  THE  ELDER  BROTHER.     2  I  I 

knew  him.  Despair  alone  could  have  driven 
him  to  drink.  I  wish  you  would  send  and 
ask  him  to  call  and  see  you." 

So  a  letter  was  sent,  and  none  too  soon,  for 
affairs  were  now  at  their  worst  with  Stephen 
Trimble. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


X 


WITH    THE    DYNAMITERS. 

"  While  we  range  with  Science,  glorying  in  the  time, 

City  children  soak  and  blacken  soul  and  sense  in  city  slime  ; 

Where  among  the  glooming  alleys   Progress  halts  on  pal- 
sied feet, 

Crime  and  hunger  cast  out  maidens  by   the  thousand  on 
the  street; 

Where  the  master  scrimps  his  haggard    seamstress  of  her 
daily  bread, 

And  a  single  sordid  attic  holds  the  living  and  the  dead." 

— Anon. 

HE  anarchist 
of  Rickett's 
Court,  under 
whose  influ- 
ence the  in- 
ventor had 
fallen,  was  a 
tho  roughly 
bad  man, 
and  the 
writer  has 
no  sympa- 
thy to  waste 
upon  him  or 
his  methods, 
but  with  his 

deluded  and  desperate  victim  we  should  all 

sympathize. 

212 


WITH  THE  DYNAMITERS.  2  I  3 

Stephen  Trimble  had  brooded  over  his 
troubles  and  wrongs  until  he  was  half  crazed, 
and  the  men  for  whom  he  worked  added 
fuel  to  the  flame. 

"  Why  should  you  be  so  precious  careful 
of  the  rich?"  his  employer  said.  "What have 
the  rich  ever  done  for  you  ?  They've  murr 
dered  your  wife,  as  I  make  out,  insisting  on 
her  standing  all  day  long,  when  she  was  not 
able  to  do  so,  and  might  have  done  her  work 
just  as  well  sitting,  They've  sent  your  in- 
nocent little  boy  to  jail  along  with  common 
pickpockets.  They've  robbed  you  of  your 
money — " 

"  Stop  !"  cried  Stephen  Trimble;  "you've 
said  that  over  and  over,  until  I  believe  it, 
though  I  don't  know  why  I  should  take 
your  word  any  quicker  than  that  of  any  one 
else.  You've  made  much  of  your  kindness 
in  telling  me,  though  I  don't  see  what  <good 
it  does  me,  unless  you  are  willing  to  go  into 
court  and  testify  for  me  as  to  what  you've 
seen." 

The  men  shook  their  heads.  "  No  going 
into  court  for  us  !  We  want  to  keep  as  far 
away  from  the  law  as  possible." 

"  Then  I  don't  see  but  you  are  as  much 
against  me  as  the  rest.  I've  worked  with 


214  WITCH  WINNIE, 

you  long  enough  to  know  what  your  aims 
are  ;  your  machine  is  now  in  working  order, 
ready  to  blow  up  the  finest  house,  the  larg- 
est audience,  in  New  York,  church  or  arm- 
ory, bank-vault  or  prison  ;  and  if  all  you  say 
is  true,  you  may  blow  away,  for  all  I  care, 
and  blow  yourselves  up  with  the  rest,  and 
me  too.  If  the  world  is  the  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah  it  seems  to  me,  we  have  Bible 
warrant  for  its  destruction.  My  work  for 
you  is  done  ;  give  me  my  money,  and  we 
are  through  with  each  other." 

"  See  here,  Trimble,"  said  the  anarchist, 
"  we  have  already  paid  you  fifteen  dol- 
lars, and  you  ought  not  to  be  too  close 
with  us." 

"  You  promised  me  a  hundred  ;  do  you 
mean  to  say — " 

"  Don't  be  so  touchy  ;  what  I  mean  to  say 
is  this  :  We  cannot  help  you  by  testifying  in 
court,  as  you  suggested  ;  it  wouldn't  do  you 
any  good  if  we  did  ;  but  find  out  the  man 
who  has  wronged  you,  and  we  will  help  you 
to  your  revenge.  In  a  few  days  our  society 
will  begin  its  operations.  We  are  out  of 
funds  now,  but  there  will  be  a  new  deal 
soon.  We  begin  with  the  banking-house  of 
Roseveldt,  Gold  &  Co.,  and  as  soon  as  the 


WITH  THE  DYNAMITERS.  215 

fireworks  are  over  we  will  be  rich  enough, 
and  you  shall  have  a  fair  share." 

Stephen  Trimble  sprang  to  his  feet.  "  I 
thought  you  were  anarchists !  do  you  ac- 
knowledge that  you  are  common  burglars  ?" 

"No,  my  friend,  we  acknowledge  nothing 
of  the  kind.  Be  good  enough  to  attend  to 
your  own  business." 

"  It  is  time  that  I  did,"  replied  the  in- 
ventor; "  I  have  neglected  it  long  enough." 

Stephen  Trimble  walked  out  of  the  build- 
ing. He  had  three  things  to  do — to  discover 
the  landlord  of  Rickett's  Court ;  to  see  his 
wife  for  the  last  time  ;  and  to  free  his  little 
son,  whom  he  believed  to  be  still  in  prison. 

There  was  quite  a  commotion  in  the 
court  ;  some  men  were  putting  up  a  fire- 
escape.  "  What  ever  put  it  into  Solomon 
Meyer's  head  to  do  that?"  he  asked. 

"  'Tain't  Solomon  Meyer,"  a  workman 
replied  ;  "  it's  the  landlord  himself.  He  or- 
dered it  done  some  time  ago,  and  was  mad 
as  a  hornet  because  Meyer  hadn't  attended 
to  it." 

"  See  here,  my  friend,"  said  Stephen 
Trimble,  "  if  you  know  who  the  landlord  of 
this  tenement  is,  you  will  do  me  a  favor 
by  directing  me  to  him," 


2  1 6  WITCH  WINNIE. 

"  Armstrong's  the  man — Alexander  Arm- 
strong, President  of  the  R.  R.  Co.  ; 

his  office  is  over  the  banking-house  of 

Roseveldt  &  Gold,  No. Broadway.  He 

rooms  there  too,  when  he's  in  town — back 
of  his  office." 

Stephen  Trimble  stood  very  still  for  a 
moment.  The  information  which  he  thought 
would  be  so  difficult  to  obtain  had  come  to  his 
door.  The  vengeance  which  he  had  fancied 
might  take  long  days  and  nights  of  plotting, 
hung  now  over  the  man  who  had  wronged 
him.  He  need  do  absolutely  nothing,  and 
Alexander  Armstrong  was  doomed.  He  must 
inevitably  be  killed  in  the  explosion  and  con- 
flagration which  was  planned  to  cover  the 
robbery  of  the  bank  beneath  him. 

They  had  changed  places,  and  the  land- 
lord of  Rickett's  Court  was  his  victim.  One- 
third  of  his  task  was  accomplished.  He 
walked  now  in  the  direction  of  the  hospital, 
and  asked  to  see  his  wife.  He  hardly  ex- 
pected to  be  admitted,  but  he  would  at  least 
make  the  attempt.  To  his  surprise  he  was 
shown  into  a  cheerful  parlor,  and  Mrs.  Trim- 
ble was  sent  for.  She  came  down,  looking 
pale,  but  happy. 

"  O  Stephen,"  she  cried,  "  it  has  been  so 


WITH  THE  DYNAMITERS.  2  I  J 

long  since  I  have  seen  you  !  but  never  mind, 
I  am  almost  well  now,  and  we  shall  soon  be 
together  again.  The  doctor  tells  me  I  may 
leave  next  week.  They  have  been  so  very 
kind  to  me  here,  it  has  been  like  Heaven. 
The  rich  are  thoughtful  and  generous  to  pro- 
vide such  places  for  the  poor.  I  am  so  grate- 
ful ;  and  I  have  rested  so  that  I  shall  be  able 
to  take  hold  with  new  courage." 

He  listened  in  a  stupefied  way,  and  seeing 
that  he  was  not  inclined  to  speak,  she  ran 
on,  "And  isn't  it  beautiful  about  Lovey  ?  " 

This  stung  him  to  speech.  "  Beautiful  ? 
To  be  arrested  and  sent  to  prison  ?" 

"Why,  no,  dear.  Haven't  you  heard  ?  A 
sweet,  kind  woman — Miss  Prillwitz — called, 
and  told  me  that  he  is  being  cared  for  at  a 
little  Home,  for  nothing,  Stephen ;  and  they 
will  keep  him  there  until  we  are  on  our  feet 
again.  If  that  isn't  brotherly  love,  I  don't 
know  what  is.  It  makes  me  believe  that 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  Christianity,  after 
all." 

% 

Still  Stephen  Trimble  was  silent.  She 
was  happy,  and  he  would  not  dispel  her 
illusion,  at  least  not  now.  Evidently  there 
were  some  good  people  in  New  York,  and 
she  had  experienced  their  kindness.  He  had 


2 1 8  WITCH  WINNIE. 

expected  to  find  her  suffering  from  neglect 
and  cruelty.  He  would  not  have  been  sur- 
prised if  she  had  died.  He  could  hardly  be- 
lieve that  a  charity  patient  had  received  such 
attention.  That  their  little  son  had  been 
also  tenderly  cared  for  passed  his  belief,  but 
he  would  see  for  himself,  and  he  took  the 
address  of  the  Home.  He  bade  his  wife 
good-bye  gently.  "I  shall  come  back  to 
you  very  soon,  Stephen,"  she  said,  "  and 
things  will  go  better  then."  He  could  not  tell 
her  of  his  deep  despair.  He  tried  to  smile, 
but  only  succeeded  in  giving  her  a  pitiful, 
longing  look.  He  walked  on  toward  the  Home 
of  the  Elder  Brother,  sure  that  its  name  was 
a  he,  and  that  he  would  find  Lovey  abused. 
But  he  was  met  at  the  door  by  Mrs.  Halsey, 
whom  he  had  known  at  Rickett's  Court,  who 
called  his  little  son  to  come  down  and  see 
his  papa,  and  who  told  him  of  the  plan 
of  which  she  had  just  been  speaking 
to  Miss  Prillwitz.  And  a  moment  later 
Lovey,  well  dressed,  clean,  fat,  and  jolly, 
tumbled  into  his  arms  with  a  cry  of  rapture. 

"  Do  you  want  to  come  home,  Lovey  ?  "  he 
asked. 

"No,  daddy,  I  want  you  to  come  here. 
Please,  Mrs.  Halsey,  mayn't  he  come  ?  " 


WITH  THE  D  YNAMITERS.  2 1 9 

"We  would  like  to  have  him  very  much 
to  teach  our  boys  the  use  of  tools  for  a  few 
hours  every  day.  It  is  just  what  I  have  been 
telling  your  father." 

"  A  week  ago,"  said  Stephen  Trimble, 
"  your  offer  would  have  been  heaven  to  me  ; 
now  I  am  afraid  it  is  too  late." 

"  Don't  say  so,"  urged  Mrs.  Halsey;  and  she 
called  Miss  Prillwitz  to  talk  the  matter  over 
with  him.  Miss  Prillwitz's  first  argument 
was  to  ask  him  to  luncheon.  He  ate  the 
nourishing  food — the  first  good  meal  that 
had  passed  his  lips  for  many  days — and  he 
said,  as  he  bade  them  farewell,  "  I  will  come 
to  you  if  I  can,  and  teach  your  boys  mechan- 
ics ;  if  I  don't  come  it  will  be  because  some- 
thing has  happened  to  me,  and  if  anything 
happens  to  me  I  want  to  ask  you  to  lend  a 
helping  hand  to  my  wife — and  may  God  bless 
you."  A  new  impulse  stirred  within  his  heart, 
gratitude,  which  he  had  not  felt  toward  any 
human  being  for  years.  He  was  softened, 
and  tears  stood  in  his  eyes.  He  could  al- 
most forgive  the  landlord  of  Rickett's 
Court  now. 

An  impulse  to  see  the  man,  though  not 
with  any  hope  of  gaining  anything  from 
the  interview,  came  over  him.  It  was  still 


22O  WITCH  WINNIE. 

early,  and  he  walked  down  Broadway  to 
the  building  designated,  and  looked  into  the 
bank.  How  wealthy  and  strong  it  looked, 
with  the  clerks  busily  at  work  calling  off 
fabulous  sums  to  one  another,  and  hand- 
ling the  piles  of  bills  and  coin  !  The  safe- 
doors  stood  open,  and  he  could  see  the 
great  bolts  and  bars,  and  complicated 
combinations ;  and  he  smiled  scornfully 
as  he  thought  how  easily  the  little  machine 
upon  which  he  had  been  working  would 
open  them  all. 

A  policeman  saw  him  staring  in  at  the  win- 
dow, and  asked  him  his  business. 

"  I  want  to  find  Mr.  Armstrong,  the  R.  R. 
president." 

''Then  you  must  go  up-stairs.  There  is  the 
door." 

He  walked  up  and  saw  another  room,  with 
gentlemen  sitting  in  easy  attitudes  in  com- 
fortable chairs.  He  asked  a  clerk  for  Mr. 
Armstrong,  and  was  told  that  he  was  in 
Washington,  on  business. 

"  Business  connected  with  a  patent  ?  " 

"  Yes  ;  I  believe  so.  What  did  you  want 
of  him?" 

"  Nothing.  Say  only  that  Stephen  Trim 
ble  called." 


WITH  THE  D  YNAMITERS.  221 

"  What!  is  this  Stephen  Trimble  ?  "  exclaim- 
ed a  hearty  voice  behind  him  ;  and,  turning, 
the  inventor  saw  an  earnest  but  kindly  look- 
ing man,  who  had  just  entered  carrying  a 
hand-bag. 

"  That  is  Mr.  Armstrong,"  said  the  clerk, 
and  Stephen  Trimble  stared  fascinated. 

"  Step  into  my  private  office,"  said  the 
financier,  "  I  am  glad  you  have  come.  It  is 
always  better  to  transact  business  at  first 
hand,  and  I  was  sorry  you  could  not 
come  when  Mr.  Meyer  asked  you  to  do 
so." 

"  I  do  not  know  what  you  mean,  sir." 

"  Did  not  Solomon  Meyer  tell  you  that  I 
wanted  you  to  call,  with  reference  to  the 
four  thousand  dollars  still  unpaid  on  our  pat- 
ent transaction  ? " 

"  Solomon  Meyer  told  me  that  I  was  too 
late,  and  that  you  did  not  care  for  my  inven- 
tion." 

Mr.  Armstrong  sprang  from  his  chair. 
"  And  he  never  gave  you  my  check  for  a 
thousand  dollars  ?  " 

"Never;  though  I  heard  that  he  had  it;" 
and  Stephen  Trimble  related  what  the  an- 
archist had  told  him. 

Mr.  Armstrong  unlocked  a  safe,  and  took 


222  WITCH  WINNIE, 

from  it  the  contract  in  regard  to  the  patent. 
"  Is  not  this  your  signature  ?  "  he  asked. 

"No,  sir :    I  never  saw  the  paper. 

"  Then  Solomon  Meyer  is  a  swindler." 

"  Very  likely,  sir." 

"  Go  home ;  say  nothing,  and  I  will  have 
him  arrested.  Stop — a  little  money  may  not 
come  amiss  to  you  just  now.  Here  is  fifty 
dollars  on  our  account.  I  will  see  you  again 
to-morrow,  but  I  have  an  important  appoint- 
ment now." 

"  I  don't  know  how  to  thank  you,  sir,  or 
what  to  say,"  said  Stephen  Trimble,  utterly 
confounded. 

"  There  are  no  thanks  due  ;  on  the  con- 
trary, I  owe  you  a  small  matter  of  five  thou- 
sand dollars — perhaps  more — for  it  seems 
you  have  not  signed  this  paper,  and  perhaps 
may  not  be  willing  to  sell  your  invention  for 
so  small  a  sum." 

As  he  spoke,  the  confidential  clerk  tapped 
at  the  door  and  remarked,  "  Dr.  Carver,  sir, 

of  Hospital,  says  you  telegraphed  to 

him  from  Washington  to  meet  you  here." 

Instantly  Stephen  Trimble  saw  that  Mr. 
Armstrong  had  forgotten  his  existence  ;  his 
entire  expression  changed  from  kindly  be- 
nevolence to  intense  eagerness  and  anxiety. 


WITH  THE  DYNAMITERS.  22$ 

''  What  has  he  got  to  worry  about,  I  won- 
der !  "  thought  the  inventor,  as  he  gave  place 
to  the  physician,  and  descended  the  stairs. 
Force  of  habit  led  his  steps  toward  Rickett's 
Court,  but  he  walked  like  a  different  man, 
and  the  workman  who  had  seen  his  crin- 
ging, crouching  manner  as  he  slouched  out  of 
the  court  that  morning,  did  not  recognize 
the  man  who  entered  with  buoyant,  deter- 
mined step.  The  change  had  begun  when 
he  left  the  door  of  the  Home  of  the  Elder 
Brother.  There  his  faith  in  his  kind  had 
been  restored.  Had  the  good  fortune  of  the 
afternoon  befallen  him  before  that  expe- 
rience he  could  not  have  believed  it,  or  the 
stupendous  change  would  have  driven  him 
insane.  But  it  had  come  upon  him,  merci- 
fully, by  degrees,  and  he  was  rapturously 
happy,  and  clearer  in  mind  than  he  had  been 
for  months.  It  was  as  if  a  great  and  crush- 
ing weight  had  been  lifted  from  heart  and 
brain.  Suddenly,  as  he  crossed  the  thresh- 
old, he  remembered  the  infernal-machine. 
The  anarchists  would  probably  use  it  that 
night,  and  Alexander  Armstrong,  his  bene- 
factor, was  doomed.  He  wondered  how  he 
could  ever  have  been  so  mad  as  to  aid 
them.  There  was  only  one  thing  to  be  done  : 


224  WITCH  WINNIE. 

he  must  undo  his  work,  render  the  contriv- 
ance harmless,  and  save  his  friend.  He 
knocked  at  the  door ;  there  was  no  answer  ; 
the  men  were  probably  out.  He  tried  to 
open  it,  but  it  was  locked.  He  could  easily 
have  picked  the  lock,  but  people  were  com- 
ing' and  going.  The  new  fire-escape  sug- 
gested itself  to  his  mind,  and  he  decided  to 
go  to  his  room  and,  as  it  was  already  dark, 
descend  by  it  to  the  workroom.  This  res- 
olution was  quickly  accomplished.  He 
lighted  a  candle  and  was  just  reaching  tow- 
ard the  machine,  when  the  door  opened  and 
the  anarchists  entered. 

"  What  are  you  doing  ?  I  thought  you  had 
finished  your  work,"  said  his  former  employer. 

"  No,  I  have  not  finished,"  replied  Stephen 
Trimble,  nervously  taking  up  a  tool  and 
beginning  to  remove  a  screw. 

"  You  are  tampering  with  the  machine  ; 
put  it  down !"  and  the  man  seized  it  angrily. 

"  Let  go!"  shouted  Stephen  Trimble,  "  you 
touch  it  at  your  peril  ;  the  button  is  under 
your  hand !  " 

The  warning  came  too  late — there  was  a 
blinding  flash,  then  a  crash  as  though  the 
heavens  had  fallen  ;  then  blackness  and  si- 
lence. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


THE  KING  S  DAUGHTERS  IN  THE  COUNTRY. 

"  Her  father  sent  her  in  his  land  to  dwell, 

Giving  to  her  a  work  that  must  be  done  ; 
And  since  the  king  loves  all  his  people  well, 

Therefore  she,  too,  cares  for  them,  every  one. 
And  when  she  stoops  to  lift  from  want  and  sin, 
The  brighter  shines  her  royalty  therein. 
u  She  walks  erect  through  dangers  manifold, 

While  many  sink  and  fail  on  either  hand  ; 
She  dreads  not  summer's  heat  nor  winter's  cold, 

For  both  are  subject  to  the  king's  command. 
She  need  not  be  afraid  of  anything, 
Because  she  is  the  daughter  of  a  king."          Anon. 

HILE  all  these 
sad   things 

o 

were  happen- 
ing Winnie 
and  I  were  en- 
joy ing  a  happy 
summer  at  my 
beloved  home 
in  the  blessed 
country. 

It  is  not  to  be 
imagined  that 
Winnie     drop- 
ped    all      her 
wild  ways  and 
became  a  saint 
at  once.     She  had  been  sobered  by  her  sad 
15  225 


226  WITCH  WINNIE, 

experience  in  plotting  and  scheming  for  the 
little  prince  ;  but  since  her  full  forgiveness 
her  elastic  spirits  rose  to  the  surface,  and  her 
cheerful  disposition  asserted  itself  in  many 
playful  pranks  and  merry,  tricksy  ways. 

We  did  not  forget  our  promise  to  work 
for  the  Elder  Brother,  but  for  a  time  we  did 
nothing  but  rest  fully  and  completely. 

She  was  delighted  with  the  country.  The 
fresh  air  and  free,  wholesome  life  acted 
upon  her  like  wine.  She  climbed  walls  and 
trees,  leaped  brooks,  whistled,  shouted,  rode 
on  the  hay-carts,  helped  in  the  kitchen  and 
in  the  garden,  drove  Dobbin  about  the 
country  roads,  went  berrying,  and  was  a 
prime  favorite  with  all  the  boys,  though  I  re- 
gret to  say  that  at  first,  perhaps  on  this  very 
account,  the  country  girls  were  a  little  jeal- 
ous and  envious  of  her.  But  not  a  whit 
cared  Winnie  for  this.  She  tramped  over 
the  fields  and  through  marshes,  with  her 
botanist's  can  swung  across  her  shoulder  by 
a  shawl-strap,  searching  for  specimens.  She 
boated  and  bathed,  taking  like  a  duck  to 
the  water,  and  learning  to  swim  more 
quickly  than  any  other  person  I  had  ever 
known.  She  loved  to  work  in  our  old- 
fashioned  garden,  pulled  weeds  diligently, 


KING' S  DA  UGHTERS  IN  THE  COUNTR  Y.        2  2  / 

and  seemed  to  love  to  feel  the  fresh  earth 
with  her  fingers.  Our  flowers  were  all  such 
as  had  grown  there  in  my  grandmother's 
time.  It  seemed  to  me  that  she  must  have 
modeled  it  on  Mary  Howitt's  garden,  for 
we  had  the  very  flowers  which  she  describes 
in  her  poems. 

"  And  there,  before  the  little  bench, 

O'ershadowed  by  the  bower,  t 
Grow  southernwood  and  lemon  thyme, 
Sweet-pea  and  gillyflower ; 

"  And  pinks  and  clove  carnations, 

Rich-scented,  side  by  side  ; 
And  at  each  end  a  holly-hock, 
With  an  edge  of  London-pride. 

"I  had  marigolds  and  columbines, 
And  pinks  all  pinks  exceeding  ; 
I'd  a  noble  root  of  love-in-a-mist, 
And  plenty  of  love-lies-bleeding." 

There  was  a  bed  of  herbs,  too,  which  my 
mother  cherished — sweet-marjoram  and  sum- 
mer savory,  sage,  rue,  and  rosemary. 

Winnie  took  a  great  interest  in  all  of  these 
plants.  The  country  girls  thought  it  odd 
that  she  should  care  for  the  wild  plants 
which  were  so  common  in  our  vicinity,  not 
knowing  Winnie's  enthusiasm  for  botany, 


228  WITCH  WINNIE. 

and  her  desire  to  make  a  large  collection  to 
show  the  princess.  An  unusually  ignorant 
girl  met  her  on  one  of  her  botanizing  ex- 
peditions, and  Winnie  asked  her  if  maiden- 
hair grew  in  our  region.  "  Of  course  it 
does!"  the  girl  replied,  indignantly;  "you 
didn't  s'pose  we  all  wore  wigs,  did  you?" 

It  was  some  time  before  Winnie  could  con- 
trol herself  and  explain  that  the  maiden-hair 
of  which  she  was  in  search  was  a  kind  of 
fern. 

"Do  you  want  it  for  a  charm?"  the  girl 
asked. 

"  No,"  replied  Winnnie  ;  "what  will  it  do  ?" 

"  If  you  put  it  in  your  shoe  and  say  the 
right  kind  of  a  charm,  you  will  understand 
the  language  of  the  birds." 

"Then  I  shall  certainly  try  it,"  said  Win- 
nie, "  for  that  would  be  great  fun." 

Another  day  mother  brought  the  same 
girl  into  the  garden,  where  Winnie  was  at 
work,  to  give  her  some  vegetables. 

"Did  you  try  the  charm  ?"  the  girl  asked. 

"Yes,  indeed,"  Winnie  replied. 

"  And  did  it  work  ?  " 

"  Oh,  famously  !  There  is  a  wood-pecker 
in  the  old  tree  just  outside  of  my  window, 
and  he  wakes  me  by  his  drumming  every 


KING'S  DAUGHTERS  IN  THE  COUNTRY. 


229 


morning.  This  morning  I  understood  for 
the  first  time  just  what  he  has  been  saying". 
It  was  '  Wake  up,  wake  up !  little  rascal, 
little  rascal,  little  rascal ! ' ' 

The  girl  stared  at  Winnie  in  open-mouthed 
astonishment.  "  You  must  be  a  witch,"  she 
said. 

"  That's  what  they  call  me — Witch  Winnie." 

They  were  standing  beside  mother's  bed 
of  herbs,  and  the  frightened  girl  pulled  up 
a  stalk  of  rue  and  held  it  at  arm's  length,  as 
though -it  were  a  protection.  "Don't  come 
nigh  me  !  don't  work  any  of  your  tricks  on 
me ! "  she  said. 

Winnie  explained  that  she  was  only  in 
sport,  but  the  girl  was  only  half  reassured, 
and  still  clung  to  the  spray  of  rue. 

Miss  Prillwitz  afterward  explained  that 
rue,  like  vervain,  was  supposed  to  "  hinder 
witches  of  their  will,"  probably  from  the 
fact  that  it  was  once  used  in  the  Church  of 
Rome,  bound  in  fagots,  as  a  holy-water 
sprinkler,  and  is  spoken  of  in  old  writings 
as  the  "  Herb  of  Grace." 

In  this  way  Witch  Winnie's  name  was 
revived  again,  and  was  applied  to  her  by  her 
new  friends,  even  though  they  did  not 
believe  in  her  uncanny  powers. 


230  WITCH  WINNIE. 

The  princess  came  to  us  later  in  the  sea» 
son  for  a  visit  of  a  month,  and  we  came  to 
know  her  intimately  and  love  her  dearly. 
She  brought  five  of  the  boys  from  the  Home 
with  her,  for  mother  was  pleased  with  the 
enterprise,  and  father  had  said  that  he 
guessed  it  wouldn't  break  him  to  give  those 
city  children  a  taste  of  what  the  country 
was  like,  and  if  we  women  folk  could  stand 
them  he  supposed  he  could. 

Winnie  took  the  boys  in  charge  and  led 
them  off  with  her  on  her  long  tramps  and  to 
row  in  the  safe,  flat-bottomed  boat.  They 
had  great  sport,  crabbing,  bathing,  swim- 
ming,  and  fishing,  and  their  vacation  did 
them  a  world  of  good.  These  were  the 
boys  for  whom  the  princess  had  planned  the 
industrial  classes,  but  Mr.  Trimble  lay  at  the 
hospital  injured,  it  was  thought,  unto  death 
by  the  explosion  at  Rickett's  Court,  and  that 
plan  was  postponed  for  the  present. 

The  boys  attracted  much  attention  in  the 
Sabbath-school  and  wherever  they  appeared. 
Many  questions  were  asked,  and  Miss  Prill- 
witz  was  requested  to  explain  the  plan  of 
the  Home,  in  public  and  in  private,  at  the 
sewing  society,  and  at  the  Fourth  of  July 
picnic. 


KING'S  DAUGHTERS  IN  THE  COUNTRY.        23! 

We  were  not  all  ignorant  country  bump- 
kins at  Scup  Harbor,  and  we  were  not  all 
poor.  There  were  plenty  of  farmers,  who 
dressed  coarsely  and  fared  plainly,  who  had 
bank  accounts  that  would  have  bought  out 
many  a  New  Yorker  of  fashion.  They  were 
not  selfish  either.  I  have  heard  somewhere 
of  a  stingy  deacon  who,  on  hearing  of  a 
case  of  heart-rending  distress,  prayed  for  it 
in  this  wise: 

"  O  Lord,  '  giving  doth  not  impoverish 
Thee,  neither  doth  withholding  enrich  Thee,' 
but  giving  doth  impoverish  us,  and  with- 
holding doth  enrich  us  ;  therefore  do  Thou 
attend  to  this  case,  good  Lord ;  do  Thou 
attend  to  this  case." 

Now  this  story  may  not  be  exaggerated, 
but  I  can  only  say  that  he  did  not  live  in 
our  section  of  the  country.  Our  deacons 
were  soft-hearted, though  horny-handed  men, 
and  though  they  had  the  poor  of  their  own 
church  and  vicinity  to  look  out  for,  and  per- 
formed that  office  well,  they  decided  that 
Scup  Harbor  was  rich  enough  to  extend  a 
helping  hand  to  New  York,  since  New 
York  was  either  too  poor  or  too  hard-hearted 
to  care  for  its  own. 

Accordingly  a  collection  was   taken  up  in 


23  2  WITCH  WINNIE. 

church  that  made  Miss  Prillwitz's  heart 
sing"  for  joy ;  and  the  Ladies'  Benevo- 
lent Sewing  Society  voted  to  have  a  box 
of  clothing  ready  for  the  JHIome  by  cold 
weather. 

The  grown  people  were  not  the  only  ones 
interested;  there  were  girls  among  us  of  gen- 
tle manners  and  hearts,  and  who  were  far 
better  educated  than  Milly  Roseveldt.  Some 
of  these  heard  of  Miss  Prillwitz's  eminence 
as  a  scientist,  and  helped  me  to  organize  a 
class  for  her  in  Natural  History,  and  the 
remainder  of  the  summer  took  on  an  aspect 
of  mental  improvement  as  well  as  of  phy- 
sical recreation.  Miss  Prillwitz  mapped  out 
a  course  of  work  and  reading  for  each  of  us 
to  carry  on  after  her  return  to  the  city,  and 
the  circle  arranged  to  meet  at  the  homes  of 
the  members,  and  read  essays  and  discuss 
different  scientific  subjects. 

Winnie  was  surprised  at  the  amount  of 
intelligence  and  information  displayed,  and 
soon  acquired  a  sincere  respect  for  country 
girls.  It  was  at  one  of  our  meetings  after 
the  princess  had  returned  to  New  York  that 
she  noticed  that  Ethel  Stanley,  the  daughter 
of  a  wealthy  dairy  farmer,  wore  a  little  sil- 
ver cross  with  a  purple  ribbon  knot. 


KING'S  DAUGHTERS  IN  THE  COUNTRY.        233 

"  Has  it  come  here,  too  ?"  she  asked  ;  "  are 
you  a  King's  Daughter  ?  " 

"  Oh  yes,"  replied  Ethel ;  "  I  belong  to  the 
Helpful  Ten,  and  there  is  a  Cheer-Up  Ten 
at  the  Corners.  What  do  you  call  your 
link  ?  " 

"  The  Seek-and-to-Save  Ten,"  Winnie  re- 
plied ;  and  she  explained  the  mission  of  our 
Circle,  and  how  we  hoped  to  help  the  Elder 
Brother  in  his  search  for  the  little  lost  princes. 
Ethel  was  delighted.  "  I  think  we  might 
help  you,"  she  said;  "we  are  Methodists,  but 
we  don't  mind  working  for  you  if  you  will 
let  us.  I  suppose  you  are  all  Episcopalians 
in  New  York?" 

"  Oh  dear,  no  ! "  exclaimed  Winnie,  "  we 
are  everything  ;  Tib  is  a  Congregationalist, 
and  Emma  Jane  is  a  Unitarian  ,  Adelaide  is 
Presbyterian  ;  'Trude  Middleton  is  a  Dutch 
Reformer  ;  Rosario  Ricos  is  Catholic  ; 
Puss  Seligman  is  a  Jewess ;  Little  Breeze 
comes  from  Philadelphia  Quaker  stock, 
though  she  is  so  gay  you  wouldn't  think  it  ; 
Cynthia  Vaughn  is  a  Baptist ;  Milly  Rose- 
veldt  is  the  only  Episcopalian  ;  and  I'm  a 
— heathen." 

"No  you  are  not,"  I  protested;  "you  are 
a  follower  of  the  Elder  Brother,  Winnie,  and 


234  WITCH  WINNIE. 

that  means  you  are  a  Christian."  She  gave 
my  hand  a  little  squeeze,  and  Ethel  ex- 
claimed, "  I  should  think  your  society 
would  go  to  pieces  ;  I  don't  see  how  you 
can  work  together  with  such  different 
views." 

"  That  depends,"  said  Winnie,  thoughtful- 
ly, "  whether  in  future  we  all  pull  in  different 
directions,  and  tear  our  charity  to  pieces  be- 
tween us,  or  whether  each  of  us  uses  all  her 
force  to  bring  in  people  from  our  different 
church  organizations  to  help  in  the  work, 
and  make  it  widely  and  purely  undenom- 
inational. I  mean  to  write  a  little  parable 
on  that  subject  some  day,  for  I  feel  full 
of  it." 

"  Do  !"  we  all  exclaimed;  "  write  it  for  the 
next  meeting  at  Ethel's." 

"  I  don't  know;  it  would  hardly  be  a  sci- 
entific essay,  you  know." 

"  I  am  not  sure  about  that,"  replied  Ethel; 
"  I  think  it  might  be  called  a  scientific  meth- 
od of  carrying  on  charitable  enterprises. 
Please  write  it,  and  I  will  invite  our 
Ten,  and  the  Cheer-up  Ten  from  the  Cor- 
ners, and  the  Loyal  Legion,  and  the  Mis- 
sionary Society,  and  all  the  girls  I  know 
generally." 


KING1  S  DA  UGHTERS  IN  THE  CO  UNTR  Y.        235 

The  plan  was  carried  into  effect,  and  at 
the  next  meeting  Winnie  read  us  this  fable, 
which  she  called 

A    FISH    STORY.* 

Once  upon  a  time  the  fishes  and  salt- 
water animals  down  in  the  bay  decided  to 
organize  a  Home  for  Sea-urchins. 

o 

The  circumstances  of  the  remarkable  agi- 
tation which  suddenly  spread  among  the 
peaceful  denizens  of  the  deep  became  known 
to  me  by  my  inadvertently  getting  a  spray  of 
sea-fern  in  one  of  my  bathing-sandals.  I  sud- 
denly discovered  that  I  could  understand  the 
voices  of  the  little  creatures  that  I  had  so 
often  watched  from  Tib's  father's  dory,  or 
sported  among  when  I  took  my  sea-bath.  I 
lay  in  the  dory  one  afternoon,  looking  down 
into  the  clear  depth  of  the  water,  watching 
the  tricks  and  manners  of  a  sea-anemone, 
and  thinking  how  similar  her  behavior  was  to 
that  of  a  reigning  belle  at  a  popular  watering- 
place,  when  it  dawned  upon  me  that  she  was 
the  belle  of  the  cove,  surrounded  by  a  circle 
of  obsequious  masculine  admirers,  prominent 
among  whom  were  the  hermit-crab,  the  oc- 

NOTE. — This  allegory  was  first  published  in  Good  Company,  of  1880. 


236  WITCH  WINNIE. 

topus,  the  jelly-fish,  the  lobster,  the  conger- 
eel,  the  king-iyo,  and  the  stickleback — 

"  Now,  Winnie,"  I  objected,  "  you  never 
saw  an  octopus  or  a  king-iyo  in  our  cove,  and 
you  can't  make  me  believe  it !" 

"  My  dear  Tib,"  Winnie  replied,  "didn't  I 
tell  you  this  was  a  fish  story  ?  Pray  do  not 
interrupt  again.  The  animals  that  I  have 
mentioned  were  all  aspirants  to  the  hand 
of  the  Sea- Anemone,  and  the  first  remarks 
which  I  overheard  and  comprehended  were 
her  confidences  to  her  friend  the  Gold-Fish, 
in  which  she  intimated  that  she  considered 
the  Jelly-Fish  the  most  amiable,  the  Lobster 
the  richest,  the  King-iyo  (a  titled  foreigner 
from  Japan)  the  most  distingue,  and  the 
Conger-Eel  the  most  polite;  but,  after  all,  the 
Hermit-Crab  was  really  the  best,  and  she 
liked  him  more  than  any  of  the  others,  with 
the  exception  of  the  Octopus,  who  was  so  fas- 
cinatingly wicked. 

The  next  time  that  I  looked  into  the  cove 
was  during  a  meeting  of  the  managers  of 
the  Sea-Urchins'  Home. 

The  Sea-Anemone  had  just  been  unani- 
mously elected  to  the  presidency  on  account 
of  her  popularity. 

The  Cuttle-Fish  had  been  created  secretary 


KING'S  DAUGHTERS  IN  THE   COUNTRY.        237 

in  recognition  of  his  remarkable  facility  in 
throwing  ink,  while  all  official  documents 
were  stamped  by  the  Seal. 

The  Electric-Eel  was  made  visiting  phy- 
sician ;  and  the  Shark,  surgeon  and  lecturer 
on  vivisection. 

The  Hermit-Crab,  who  had  been  detailed  to 
make  observations  on  the  modus  in  which 
such  societies  were  carried  on  among  human 
beings,  made  the  following  report  : 

"  Miss  PRESIDENT  AND  FELLOW-FISHES  : 

"  Your  committee  have  made  a  careful 
investigation  of  the  subject  assigned  them, 
and  agree  that  while  man's  faculties  have 
not  been  cultivated  to  so  high  an  extent  as 
those  pertaining  to  fishes,  he  is  still  a  moral 
and  intellectual  animal.  We  believe  that  if 
he  were  put  in  possession  of  the  advantages 
accorded  to  our  race,  and  were  submerged 
in  salt-water  for  several  centuries,  his  brain 
would  undoubtedly  become  so  pickled  as 
to  reduce  it  in  size  and  intensify  its  qual- 
ity. Favorable  conditions  of  brain-pickling 
are  all  that  is  necessary,  in  our  opinion,  to 
develop  some  of  the  most  advanced  speci- 
mens of  this  genus  into  a  low  form  of  mol- 
lusk. 

"  The  opinions  of   the  Hermit-Crab  were 


238  WITCH  WINNIE. 

considered  a  marvel  of  liberality  and  gener- 
ous thinking.  He  proceeded  to  explain  the 
society-forming-  instinct  of  the  human  race 
as  a  professor  of  our  own  species  might  lec- 
ture on  the  concretions  of  deep-sea  corals, 
and  continued  swimmingly,  as  fishes  usually 
do,  until  a  white-whiskered  Sea-Lion  begged 
leave  to  make  a  motion,  in  the  language  of 
a  motto  of  conduct  which  he  had  often 
heard  shouted  to  seamen  by  their  command- 
ers :  *  When  you  are  in  the  navy,  do  as  the 
knaves  do.'  '  Let  us/  he  added,  '  act 
upon  this  principle  of  conformity,  by  doing 
amongst  men  as  the  many  do,  and  immedi- 
ately organize  a  fair  to  meet  the  salaries  of 
our  officers  and  pay  the  debt  on  the  society 
building.' 

"  '  But  none  of  us  need  salaries,'  objected 
the  Lobster,  '  and  we  have  no  debt.' 

"  '  As  to  declining  a  salary  because  I  do 
not  need  it,'  replied  the  Sea-Lion, '  I  can  only 
say  that  I  find  no  such  example  set  by  the 
race  whose  customs  we  are  following;  and 
without  a  debt,  or  at  least  a  deficit  in  the  ac- 
counts of  our  treasurer,  the  respectability  of 
our  society  may  well  be  questioned.' 

"A  committee  of  Codfish  aristocrats  was  at 
once  authorized  to  secure  a  debt  of  magnif- 


KING'S  DAUGHTERS  IN  THE  COUNTRY.        239 

icent  proportions,  at  whatever  cost,  and  the 
salary  of  each  member  of  the  society  was 
set  according  to  his  own  estimates.  Fre- 
quent meetings  of  the  managers  were  ap- 
pointed for  the  purpose  of  drawing  the  sala- 
ries, and  as  the  care  of  the  Sea-Urchins  could 
with  the  utmost  ingenuity  be  made  to  take 
up  but  a  small  portion  of  the  time,  each  of 
the  managers  seized  upon  these  meetings  as 
opportunities  to  air  their  own  particular 
opinions.  The  Lobster,  who  was  something 
of  an  autocrat,  and  had  determined  from  the 
outset  to  run  the  concern,  took  the  entire 
business  management  into  his  own  claws, 
greatly  incensing  the  ladies  on  the  debt 
committee  by  intimating  that  they  knew 
nothing  of  business,  and  that  his  office-boy, 
the  Craw-Fish,  could  have  devised  a  debt  of 
far  nobler  proportions.  The  King-iyo,  or  three- 
tailed  fish  of  Japan,  trusted  that  the  philoso- 
phy of  the  Orient  was  to  have  its  full  recog- 
nition in  the  principles  of  the  society,  and 
that  the  Sea-Urchins  would  be  instructed  in 
Buddhism.  The  Octopus,  who  had  been  one 
of  the  most  desperate  characters  in  the  bay, 
carried  his  change  of  heart  so  far  as  to  assert 
that  no  one  could  be  considered  as  religious, 
or  even  respectable,  who  had  not  been  ex- 


240  WITCH  WINNIE. 

tremely  wicked,  and  urged  that  only  the 
most  depraved  and  hopeless  young  Sea-Ur- 
chins  be  admitted  into  the  Home.  While  the 
Octopus  raved  over  essential  wickedness, 
and  the  King-iyo  of  philosophy,  the  Jelly- 
Fish  dabbled  in  humanitarianism,  and  assert- 
ed that  brains  were  not  to  be  tolerated, 
thought  was  to  be  considered  a  crime,  and  a 
heart  the  only  organ  necessary  for  the  spirit- 
ual body.  All  books  on  theology  and  philos- 
ophy should  be  sold  for  old  paper,  and  the 
proceeds  invested  in  charlotte  russe  for 
tramps  and  criminals.  Every  measure  in 
the  least  savoring  of  logic  or  common  sense 
must  be  vetoed. 

"The  Stickleback,  who  luxuriated  in  contro- 
versy, and  in  making  himself  generally  dis- 
agreeable, summed  up  the  remarks  of  those 
preceding  him  as  the  merest  vaporing  of 
idiocy,  and  denounced  every  system  of  be- 
lief held  by  his  fellow  -  managers,  before 
hearing  it,  with  the  same  impartiality.  An- 
tagonism, he  asserted,  was  the  only  rational 
attitude  for  any  fish  under  all  circumstances. 
The  Conger-Eel,  managing  to  gain  posses- 
sion of  the  floor,  endeavored  to  pour  oil  on 
the  troubled  waters.  He  was  sure  that  if  the 
heterogeneous,  and  even  antipathetic,  ideas 


KING'S  DAUGHTERS  IN  THE  COUNTRY.        241 

held  by  the  different  managers  were  only 
presented  in  writing,  they  would,  properly 
mingled,  blend  as  sweetly  as  lemon  juice 
and  loaf  sugar  in  a  cooling  summer  libation. 
The  Cuttle-Fish,  was  unanimously  elected 
chairman  of  a  committee  for  eliciting  and 
reconciling  the  opinions  of  the  mana- 
gers in  a  printed  constitution.  He  opened 
the  ball  with  a  statement  of  his  own  views, 
which  he  passed  to  e.ach  member  in  turn, 
asking  them  to  add  their  several  criticisms 

o 

and  corrections.  When  the  paper  had  gone 
the  rounds  it  was  read  in  open  session  by 
the  Hermit-Crab,  who  summed  up  everything 
that  had  gone  before,  in  a  paper  entitled 
'  A  Historical  Review  of  the  Documents,  be- 
ginning with  the  King-iyo's  criticism  of  Mr. 
Snapping-Turtle's  attack  on  Mr.  Shrimp's 
vindication  of  Mr.  Jelly-Fish's  Apology 
of  Mr.  Conger-Eel's  Deprecatory  Answer  to 
Mr.  Lobster's  satire  on  Mr.  Stickleback's  Chal- 
lenge to  Mr.  Octopus's  Dogmatic  Denuncia- 
tion of  Mr.  Shark's  strictures  on  Miss  Sea- Ane- 
mone's conciliatory  explanation  of  Mr.  Cuttle- 
Fish's  exposition  of  the  views  of  the  society.' 
"  Of  course  this  paper  satisfied  no  one,  and 
the  meeting  plunged  at  once  into  a  whirl- 
pool of  ruinous  discussion. 
16 


242  WITCH  WINNIE. 

"  The  Stickleback  bristled  his  spines  and 
glared  angrily  about  him,  shrieking,  'Antag- 
onism !  Nihilism !' 

"  '  Fanaticism,  Sensationalism  !'  yelled  the 
Octopus. 

"  '  Dogmatism  !  Absolutism  !'  replied  the 
Lobster,  hurling  clams  about  him  in  the 
belief  that  they  were  works  on  combative 
theology. 

"  '  Asceticism  !  Monasticism !'  groaned  the 
Hermit-Crab,  retreating  into  a  pipe  bowl  and 
blocking  the  entrance  with  a  pearl-oyster. 

"  '  Humanitarianism  !'  warbled  the  Jelly- 
Fish,  as  he  choked  three  sea-melons  and  a 
quart  of  sea-mushrooms  into  the  mouth  of  a 
sick  Grampus. 

"  '  Paganism  !  Barbarianism  !'  retorted  the 
King-iyo,  punching  the  Jelly-Fish. 

"  '  Optimism  !  Universalism  !'  sweetly 
chanted  the  Conger-Eel,  but  as  he  spoke  the 
entire  convention  broke  up  and  floated  away, 
leaving  the  little  Sea-Urchins  crying  for  their 
supper,  and  only  a  debt  of  colossal  propor- 
tions to  mark  the  site  of  the  proposed  Home." 

"And  how  do  you  propose  to  avoid  the 
fate  of  the  Fish  Society  ?"  Ethel  asked,  after 
the  storm  of  applause  which  followed  Win- 
nie's paper  had  subsided. 


KING'S  DAUGHTERS  IN  THE  COUNTRY.        243 

"  By  recognizing,  from  the  first,  that  we 
unite  only  for  this  special  purpose,  and  that 
we  all  have  very  varied  and  contradictory 
opinions,  which  we  will  make  no  attempt  to 
reconcile  or  ventilate.  I  think  we  can  make 
our  very  differences  an  element  of  strength, 
if  it  is  acknowledged  from  the  outset  that 
we  are  to  be  different.  As  Corresponding 
Secretary  of  our  Ten  I  have  received  the 
most  encouraging  reports  from  the  girls. 
They  are  all  working  hard  for  the  Home, 
and  all  working  in  different  ways,  and  each 
seems  to  think  that  the  Home  belongs  to  her 
individually — as  it  really  does — and  that  her 
organization  is  responsible  for  its  success.  I 
am  sure  that  when  we  next  meet,  the  girls 
will  accept  Mrs.  Middleton's  proposition  to 
have  the  Home  of  the  Elder  Brother  entered 
as  one  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  charities,  and 
I  hope  that  each  of  the  other  girls  will  take 
measures  to  have  it  recognized  as  one  of  the 
charities  of  her  particular  church  organi- 
zation. I  have  a  letter  from  Little  Breeze, 
saying  that  the  Friends'  Meeting  in  Phil- 
adelphia, of  which  her  mother  is  a  member, 
propose  to  own  a  bed  in  the  Home  ;  and 
Puss  Seligman  writes  that  the  Hebrew 

o 

Charitable  Association,  of  which  her  brother 


244  WITCH  WINNIE. 

is  Vice-President,  have  voted  to  hold  them- 
selves responsible  for  every  child  of  their 
race  whom  we  entertain.  Cynthia  Vaughn 
reports  that  the  Church  of burgh,  Penn- 
sylvania, will  keep  us  in  coal  on  condition 
that  a  delegation  of  the  children  go  to  the 
Baptist  Sunday-school.  Miss  Prillwitz  has 
already  divided  the  Home  into  detachments, 
sending  the  children,  as  far  as  possible,  to 
the  churches  which  their  mothers  prefer, 
and  there  is  a  strong  division  of  Baptists." 

"  I  think,"  said  Ethel,  "  that  our  Methodist 
Church  would  like  to  have  a  share  in  the 
work.  I  am  sure  that  father  will  be  glad  to 
supply  you  with  milk  and  butter  as  his  own 
private  subscription." 

The  President  of  the  Loyal  Legion  then 
spoke  up,  and  proposed  that  their  organi- 
zation furnish  barrels  and  make  the  rounds 
of  the  farms  in  procession,  soliciting  apples 
and  potatoes,  which  they  would  freight  to 
the  Home,  on  condition  that  a  Loyal  Legion 
Temperance  Society  be  organized  among 
the  children  of  the  Elder  Brother,  to  be 
considered  as  a  branch  of  the  Scup  Harbor 
Legion. 

The  Cheer-up  Ten  from  the  Corners  held 
a  brief  meeting  in  the  orchard,  and  returned 


KING^S  DAUGHTERS  IN  THE  COUNTRY.        245 

to  report  that  they  had  decided  to  adopt  one 
of  our  children  to  clothe.  They  desired 
that  the  child  of  the  poorest  parents  be 
assigned  them,  and  promised  that  if  the 
proper  measurements  were  sent,  they  would 
keep  it  respectably  dressed  in  garments  of 
their  own  make. 

I  suggested  little  Georgie,  a  child  rescued 
from  Mrs.  Grogan,  whose  mother  could  only 
furnish  fifty  cents  a  week  from  her  scanty 
earnings  for  his  support;  and  our  convention 
broke  up  for  that  day,  after  partaking  of 
strawberries  and  cream,  singing  a  good  old 
hymn,  slightly  altered  for  the  occasion  by 
Winnie. 

"  Here  we  raise  our  Ebenezer, 

Hither  by  God's  grace  we  come; 
And  we  hope,  by  His  good  pleasure, 
Long  we  may  remain  a  Home." 

NOTE. — The  Messiah  Home,  4  Rutherford  Place,  New  York,  a 
charity  founded  for  children  by  children,  whose  beautiful  work  sug- 
gested to  the  author  this  simple  story,  has  been  greatly  helped  by 
circles  of  the  King's  Daughters,  several  of  whom  have  adopted  chil- 
dren to  clothe  after  the  manner  of  the  Cheer-up  Ten.  The  writer  com- 
mends this  work  to  any  other  circles  of  the  King's  Daughters  eager  to 
do  the  work  of  the  Elder  Brother. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY. 

"  When  smale  foules  maken  melodic, 
That  sleepen  alle  night  with  open  eye, 
Than  longen  folk  to  gon  on  pilgrimages." 

Chaucer \  Prologrte  to  "  Canterbury  Tales." 

T  must  not 
be  imagined 
that  our  en- 
tire summer 
was  giv- 
en over 
to  works 
of  charity 
and  mercy. 
There  were  times  when  we  quite  forgot 
the  Home  of  the  Elder  Brother  in  merry 
romping  and  girlish  enjoyment ;  and  one  of 
the  pleasantest  experiences  of  that  season 
was  an  excursion  in  two  tin-peddler's  carts, 
or  rather,  in  two  carts  belonging  to  one  tin- 
peddler;  a  pilgrimage  which  was  undertaken 

246 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY.  247 

solely  and  simply  as  a  lark,  and  most  suc- 
cessfully realized  its  aims. 

Toward  the  end  of  June,  while  Miss  Prill- 
witz  was  still  with  us,  father  fell  into  a  state 
of  body  or  mind  which  he  called  "  the  ma- 
lary."  It  was  the  fashion  for  everyone  in 
our  region  to  dub  every  disease  with  which 
they  might  be  afflicted,  from  indigestion  to 
inherited  insanity,  malaria  ;  and  the  prescrip- 
tion given  by  our  wise  old  physician  for  this 
disease  of  many  manifestations  was  always 
the  same. 

"I  don't  know  exactly  what  has  caused 
this  trouble,"  he  would  say,  "  but  I  know 
what  will  cure  it.  You  need  a  change.  If 
you've  been  living  high,  diet.  If  you've  been 
starving  yourself,  have  Thanksgiving  dinner 
every  day.  Take  a  change  of  air  and  a 
change  of  scene,  a  change  of  occupation,  and, 
above  all,  a  change  of  habits,  and  somewhere 
we'll  hit  the  nail  on  the  head  that  has  done 
the  mischief." 

The  prescription  pleased  my  father.  He 
decided  that  he  needed  a  change  from  the 
coast  to  the  interior,  and  from  exercise  to  a 
sedentary  life.  "  Instead  of  tramping  around 
this  farm,"  he  said,  "  I  would  like  to  be  driv- 
ing over  the  western  Massachusetts  hills.  I 


248  WITCH  WINNIE. 

am  as  sick  of  this  eternal  pound,  pound  of 
the  surf  on  the  shore  as  of  the  sea-fog  in  my 
throat." 

"  Take  the  horses,  father,"  said  mother, 
cheerfully, . "  and  drive  through  Connecticut 
up  to  your  brother  Asahel's  farm  in  Hawley. 
I  can  run  this  household  well  enough  with- 
out you." 

"It  would  be  a  rather  lonesome  drive," 
father  demurred,  though  his  eyes  shone  with 
longing. 

"  Zen  why  not  to  take  us  wiz  you,  Mr. 
Smiss  ?"  asked  Miss  Prillwitz.  "  We  would 
each  stand  her  share  of  ze  expenses,  and  such 
a  tour  of  diligence  would  be  most  delightful." 

Upon  this  the  matter  was  thoroughly  can- 
vassed, and  it  was  finally  decided  that 
mother  should  remain  at  home  with  the  five 
little  boys,  whom  Ethel  Stanley  and  the  Help- 
ful Ten  had  agreed  to  amuse  during  our  ab- 
sence ;  and  that  Miss  Prillwitz,  Miss  Sar- 
toris,  Winnie,  Mr.  Stillman,  and  I  should 
accompany  father.  Mr.  Stillman  was  a  sum- 
mer-boarder from  New  York,  who  came  to 
us  every  season  to  fish  and  hunt.  Hearing 
that  Miss  Prillwitz  was  fond  of  ornithology, 
and  that  the  lighthouse-keeper  sent  her  dead 
birds,  he  tried  to  please  her  by  shooting 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY.  249 

others  and  bringing  them  to  her,  but  she  soon 
made  him  understand  that  she  preferred 
studying  them  alive  and  at  liberty. 

"Zese  poor  leetle  tears  zat  haf  cast  zem- 
self  on  ze  lighthouse,"  she  explained,  "  zey 
have  not  been  kill  for  me,  zey  could  not  else, 
but  I  wish  I  could  hinder  zem  of  it." 

"  It  is  not  much  fun  to  shoot  birds,  after 
all,"  Mr.  Stillman  admitted,  "only  the  ex- 
ultation in  hitting  a  difficult  mark.  I  hate 
to  pick  them  up  afterward." 

"  If  it  is  only  ze  chase  and  ze  difficulty 
which  make  you  admiration,"  said  Miss  Prill- 
witz,  "  why  do  you  not  buy  to  yourself  a 
camera  of  detective  for  ze  instantaneousness, 
whereby  you  can  photograph  ze  bird  on  his 
wing  ?  Zey  tell  me  it  shall  be  much  more 
difficult  to  do  zat  zan  to  shoot  him  dead." 

And  so  Mr.  Stillman  had  sent  to  New 
York  for  an  amateur  photographer's  outfit, 
and  had  fitted  up  a  dark-room  in  the  old 
smoke-house,  where  he  developed  his  nega- 
tives. He  was  a  man  to  whom  almost  every- 
thing he  tried  was  easy,  and  he  tried  his 
hand  at  many  things.  He  had  traveled 
much,  and  assured  us  that  wherever  he 
went  he  tried  to  learn  some  new  accomplish- 
ment. In  China  he  had  learned  the  art  of 


250 


WITCH  WINNIE. 


making  fireworks,  and  earlier  in  the  season 
the  smoke-house  had  served  as  a  chemical 
laboratory  for  the  manufacture  of  rockets. 
Before  Miss  Prillwitz  had  suggested  amateur 
photography,  Mr.  Stillman  had  amused  us 
by  setting  off  fireworks  on  the  beach  at 
night,  but  the  new  craze  seemed  destined  to 
supersede  every  other ;  pyrotechnics  were 
neglected,  and  the  shot-gun  and  rifle  rusted 
from  lack  of  use. 

A  tin-peddler  lived  not  far  from  us — an  en- 
terprising man,  the  proprietor  of  two  carts, 
one  of  which  his  wife  was  accustomed  to 
conduct,  following  him  in  caravan  style  on 
his  summer  journeyings  ;  but  this  season  the 
man  was  sick,  his  wife  busied  in  his  care,  and 
the  great  carts,  piled  with  wares,  stood  wait- 
ing in  the  sheds. 

"  I've  a  notion,"  said  father,  "  to  buy  Eben 
Ware's  stock  and  hire  one  of  his  carts.  I 
can  hitch  my  span  of  horses  to  it,  and  I  will 
make  enough  selling  tinware,  as  we  go,  to 
pay  the  expenses  of  the  whole  trip." 

This  plan  did  not  strike  me  pleasantly  at 
first,  but  before  I  had  time  to  object  Mr. 
Stillman  joined  in  enthusiastically. 

"  A  capital  idea,  Mr.  Smith,  but  you  know 
our  board  is  to  be  paid  regularly  to  Mrs. 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY.  2  5  I 

Smith  during  our  absence.  Miss  Sartoris, 
Miss  Prillwitz,  and  I  all  insist  upon  that.  I 
will  take  the  peddler's  horses  and  his  second 
cart,  which  I  will  load  up  with  my  photo- 
graphic outfit,  the  ladies'  baggage,  camp  sup- 
plies, etc.,  and  I  will  fill  in  any  spare  space 
with  fireworks,  which  I  will  offer  for  sale 
along  the  route,  all  profits  to  be  devoted  to 
the  charity  in  which  the  ladies  are  interested. 
The  Fourth  of  July  is  so  near  that  I  fancy 
the  rockets  will  meet  with  a  ready  sale." 

All  joined  in  the  plan  with  zest.  Our 
wardrobe  was  reduced  to  a  minimum.  It 
was  discovered  that  the  two  carts  were  ar- 
ranged to  turn  into  ambulances  for  camping 
at  night,  and  would  furnish  comfortable 
accommodation  for  the  feminine  portion  of 
the  party,  while  a  small  tent  was  provided 
for  father  and  Mr.  Stillman.  In  reality  we 
camped  but  one  night,  preferring  to  stop  at 
wayside  inns,  but  it  was  pleasant  to  know 
that  we  could  do  so  whenever  we  wished. 
A  roll  of  army  blankets  and  comfortables, 
a  few  kitchen  utensils,  and  some  canned 
goods  were  stored  away  in  Mr.  Stillman's 
cart,  with  Miss  Prillwitz's  botanizing  equip- 
ments, Miss  Sartoris's  sketching  materials,  his 
own  belongings,  and  all  the  fireworks  which 


252 


WITCH  WINNIE. 


he  could  manufacture  in  time;  and  still  there 
was  room  in  the  capacious  interior.  The 
rifle  was  added  at  Winnie's  urgent  request, 
as  a  defense  against  wild  beasts,  though  we 
all  joined  in  ridiculing  her  fears  that  bears 
mio'lit  be  found  in  the  Massachusetts  woods, 

o 

little  thinking  that  we  should  have  a  thrill- 
ing adventure  with  a  grizzly  bear.  At  the  last 
moment  Mr.  Stillman  added  another  camera 
and  more  chemicals. 

"  This  means,"  he  replied,  in  answer  to  our 
questions,  "  that  I  have  rented  a  tintype  outfit 
of  a  photographer  over  at  the  Corners,  and 
propose  to  add  to  our  resources  by  taking 
tintypes  as  we  go." 

•  Mr.  Stillman's  ready  invention,  so  fertile  in 
expedients,  received  hearty  applause,  and  the 
gypsy  caravan  set  out  in  high  feather.  We 
took  the  steamboat  with  the  carts  to  New 
Haven,  and  from  that  point  struck  into  the 
interior  by  turnpikes  and  country  roads, 
father  leading  the  way  with  his  jingling 
coach,  Miss  Prillwitz  and  Winnie  perched 
high  beside  him,  and  Miss  Sartoris,  Mr. 
Stillman,  and  I,  who  called  ourselves  the  Art 
Contingent,  bringing  up  the  rear.  How 
beautiful  the  roads  were,  shaded  by  willows 
or  arched  by  elms  !  Often  fascinating  lanes 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY. 


25. 


led  off  from  the  highway  toward  comfortable 
farm-houses,  or  grass-grown,  deserted  roads 
mounted  through  shady  gorges  to  the  lonely 
hills,  tempting  us  from  the  beaten  track. 
But  the  highway  was  beautiful  enough. 
Sometimes  it  followed  the  curves  of  some 
vagrant  stream,  or  wound  around  gently 
undulating  hills.  Miss  Sartoris  pointed  out 
the  fact  that  it  was  most  frequently  a  suc- 
cession of  curves,  while  French  highways  are 
laid  out  as  straight  as  the  surveyor  can  make 
them,  and  do  not  compose  as  well  in  land- 
scape paintings.  The  Connecticut  roads  we 
found  easy  to  travel,  well  kept,  and  for  the 
most  part  level  or  of  easy  grade.  It  was  not 
until  we  reached  western  Massachusetts  thaj: 
we  walked  up  the  hills  to  lighten  the  load, 
or  that  the  driver  pressed  his  foot  hard  on 
the  brake  as  the  cart  coasted  down  the  steep 
inclines  like  a  toboggan. 

Winnie  was  delighted  with  a  bit  of  gorge 
road  which  played  at  hide  and  seek  with  a 
wayward  brook.  "  It  seems  to  me,"  she  said, 
"  that  the  wood  is  a  matter-of-fact  business 
man,  and  the  brook  is  his  sweet  but  willful 
little  wife.  See  how  he  tries  to  adapt  himself 
to  her  whims  and  pranks,  keeping  as  close  to 
her  as  he  can,  while  the  side  which  she  does 


254 


WITCH  WINNIE. 


not  touch  is  stern  with  rock  and  shadow! 
And  she,  coquettish  little  thing,  wanders 
away  from  him  into  the  deepest  part  of  the 
ravine,  where  he  cannot  follow,  and  hides 
herself  in  a  tangle  of  fern  and  wild-flowers, 
till,  just  as  the  lonely  old  road,  quite  in  despair 
at  having  lost  her,  crosses  the  ravine  on  a 
bridge  of  logs,  apparently  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  seeking  her,  the  merry  little  brook  flies 
under  the  mossy  bridge  and  is  close  beside 
him  on  the  side  which  he  thought  farthest 
from  her." 

"That  is  a  very  good  parable,"  said  father. 
"  You've  struck  the  nail  pretty  fairly.  That's 
the  way  it  has  always  been  with  my  wife 
and  me.  My  daughter,  too,  is  one  of  the 
brook  kind,  but  you  needn't  conclude  that 
the  old  road  doesn't  enjoy  all  the  company 
of  blackberry  vines  and  laurel  and  ferns 
that  the  brook  attracts  to  itself,  and  which 
never  would  have  come  near  the  road  but 
for  the  brook.  I  mean  you  and  Miss  Sartoris 
and  the  rest." 

"  And  sometimes,"  Winnie  added,  "  the 
road  has  its  grains  of  corn  or  wheat  dropped 
from  a  passing  cart,  you  know,  to  give  to  the 
sparrows,  and  the  brook  likes  that  ever  so 
much." 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY. 


255 


Father  always  called  the  boys  from  the 
Home  "  the  sparrows,"  and  he  was  pleased 
by  this  allusion  to  his  generosity. 

We  found  ourselves  following  the  circus 
at  one  stage  of  our  journey,  and  we  pitched 
our  tent  and  made  camp  not  far  from  the 
fair-grounds.  We  chose  for  our  camp  a  site 
which  had  once  been  occupied  by  a  house 
that  had  been  burned  to  the  ground.  The 
only  out  -  building  which  had  escaped  the 
conflagration  was  a  root-house,  or  cellar,  ex- 
cavated, cave-like,  in  the  side  of  a  hill.  It 
struck  Mr.  Stillman  as  a  particularly  good 
"  dark-room,"  and  we  at  once  pre-empted  it. 
Miss  Sartoris  painted  a  sign-board  for  the 
photographic  studio,  and  Winnie  and  I  ar- 
ranged a  bower  with  a  flowery  background 
for  Mr.  Stillman's  sitters.  We  had  a  rich 
harvest  that  day,  Winnie  acting  as  cashier, 
and  Miss  Sartoris,  as  assistant,  posing  the 
groups.  Mr.  Stillman  was  quite  exhausted 
when  evening  fell.  He  said  he  had  never 
done  such  a  day's  work  in  his  life,  and  his 
tintype  material  was  nearly  used  up.  We 
were  patronized  not  only  by  the  country 
people  who  came  to  see  the  show,  sheepish 
lovers  who  wished  to  have  their  portraits 
taken  together,  and  parties  of  merry  young 


256 


WITCH  WINNIE. 


people,  but  also  by  the  showmen  them- 
selves. The  living  skeleton  and  the  fat  lady, 
the  strong  man  supporting  a  great  weight 
by  his  teeth,  the  lion  tamer  with  his  pets, 
and  the  snake  charmer,  were  all  among  Mr. 
Stillman's  patrons.  When  it  was  under- 
stood that  he  had  an  instantaneous  camera 
with  him,  the  equestrienne  desired  him  to 
take  a  photograph  of  her  wrhile  performing 
her  famous  feat  of  riding  five  horses  at  once, 
and  the  acrobats  challenged  him  to  catch 
their  rapid  evolutions.  He  surprised  them 
by  his  remarkable  success  in  obtaining  a 
perfect  negative.  It  was  our  most  success- 
ful day,  from  a  financial  point  of  view,  for 
we  realized  over  twenty  dollars. 

Father  had  a  rather  annoying  experience 
which  made  him  desire  to  avoid  the  circus 
in  the  future.  Among  the  articles  which 
the  tin-peddler  had  given  him  was  a  solder- 
ing furnace  and  irons,  for  mending  old  tin- 
ware. Father  made  his  first  attempt  to  use 
these  tools  on  this  afternoon.  The  door- 
keeper of  one  of  the  tents  brought  him  his 
japanned  tin  strong-box  to  mend,  and  father 
attacked  the  task  laboriously,  succeeding  in 
making  it  firm  by  a  rather  too  plentiful  ap- 
plication of  solder.  He  was  so  interested  in 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY. 


257 


his  task  that  he  did  not  notice  that  an  organ- 
grinder,  one  of  the  followers  of  the  circus, 
had  pressed  quite  near  and  was  regarding 
the  coins,  which  the  door-keeper  had 
temporarily  turned  into  his  handkerchief, 
with  hungry  eyes.  Suddenly  the  monkey, 
which  had  been  tied  to  the  organ,  became 
loose,  and  springing  straight  to  the  little 
furnace,  seized  and  brandished  the  heated 
soldering-iron.  A  great  excitement  ensued, 
for  no  one  dared  to  take  the  formidable 
weapon  from  the  mischievous  creature.  The 
owner  of  the  monkey  seemed  at  his  wits' 
end.  He  raged,  stamped,  tore  his  hair,  com- 
manded and  entreated  the  monkey  to  bring 
back  the  iron,  all  to  no  avail.  The  monkey, 
having  burned  himself,  finally  dropped  it, 
but,  frightened  by  the  pain  or  by  his  master's 
threats,  continued  his  flight  into  the  woods, 
followed  by  the  organ-grinder.  When  the 
excitement  occasioned  by  this  event  had 
subsided,  a  still  greater  one  ensued  on 
the  discovery  that  the  door-keeper's  hand- 
kerchief and  money  had  disappeared.  The 
man  angrily  charged  father  with  its  theft, 
but  Mr.  Stillman  came  running  from  his 
dark-room  with  a  negative  which  he  had 
just  developed.  He  had  been  standing  at 
17 


258  WITCH  WINNIE. 

the  door,  with  his  detective  camera  in  his 
hand,  and,  quite  unintentionally,  had  done 
real  detective  work,  for,  intending-  only  to 
catch  the  monkey  with  the  soldering-iron, 
he  had  focused  upon  it  at  the  very  first,  and 
the  unerring  eye  of  the  camera  had  seen  and 
recorded  what  every  one  else  had  been  too 
preoccupied  to  discover — the  organ-grinder 
snatching  the  gate-keeper's  money.  The 
negative  was  a  sufficient  witness,  and  the 
organ-grinder  was  at  once  sought  for,  but 
the  earth  seemed  to  have  swallowed  him. 
The  monkey  was  found  nursing  his  burned 
paw  in  a  tree,  but  his  master  and  the  money 
were  not  to  be  found.  There  was  such  a 
train  of  beggars  and  questionable  characters 
in  the  wake  of  the  circus  that  it  was  decided 
not  to  pursue  our  moneyed  advantage  by 
following  with  them  ;  and  the  next  day  we 
stood  back  from  the  road  to  let  the  heavy, 
shambling  elephants  and  long  train  of 
gaudily  decorated  wagons  pass  by.  Mr. 
Stillman  had  his  detective  camera  out,  and 
took  some  interesting  views  of  the  proces- 
sion. Father  had  taken  a  dislike  to  the 
soldering  outfit,  and  congratulated  himself 
that  the  monkey  had  lost  the  iron,  but  the 
last  In  the  procession,  a  gypsy  fortune-teller, 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY. 


259 


handed  it  to  him,  saying-  that  it  was  a  lode- 
stone,  which  would  bring  evil  fortune  to  the 
person  who  possessed  it,  and  advising-  him 
to  give  it  to  his  worst  enemy.  "  I  am  a 
witch,"  Winnie  laughed,  "  and  can  reverse 
all  omens — so  we  need  not  fear."  Turning 
from  the  highway,  we  now  struck  across  the 
country,  through  chestnut  woods,  where 
Miss  Prillwitz  taught  us  to  recognize  the 
song  of  the  thrush,  the  sweetest  of  New 
England  songsters,  and  cousin  of  the  mock- 
ing-bird. Mr.  Stillman  was  vexed  that  he 
could  not  obtain  a  single  photograph  of  a 
thrush,  but  she  is  a  shy  bird,  and  keeps  hid- 
den in  leafy  thickets,  and  though  we  heard 
her  song  frequently,  we  never  saw  her.  Mr. 
Stillman  became  very  skillful  in  photograph- 
ing other  birds,  even  fixing  the  agile  little 
fly-catchers  in  their  eccentric  movements, 
the  watchful  bobolink  atilt  on  a  mullein- 
stalk,  the  swallows  skimming  the  river's 
surface,  and  the  sagacious  crows,  who,  hav- 
ing proved  that  a  very  natural  scarecrow 
was  harmless,  were  less  suspicious  of  him. 
The  withered  limbs  on  certain  old  apple- 
trees  were  favorite  perches  for  the  birds,  for 
there  was  no  foliage  here  to  impede  their 
flight,  and  outlined  against  the  sky  they 


26O  WITCH  WINNIE. 

were  capital  targets  for  the  camera.  Mr. 
Stillman  secured  a  gentlemanly  king-bird 
in  such  a  position,  his  white  breast  and  black 
back  and  tail  feathers  reminding  Winnie  of 
a  dandy  in  full  evening  dress. 

Miss  Prillwitz  remarked  on  the  brilliant 
plumage  of  the  New  England  birds,  and 
said  that  it  was  a  mistake  to  imagine  that 
those  of  the  South  were  more  beautiful.  She 
pointed  out  the  black  and  gold  orioles,  the 
lovely  bluebird,  the  scarlet  tanagers,  as 
brilliant  as  flamingoes,  the  beautiful  rose- 
breasted  grosbeaks,  with  a  rich  crimson 
heart  upon  their  breasts,  and  the  red-winged 
blackbirds,  with  their  scarlet  epaulets, 
reminding  one  of  brisk  artillerymen.  It 
\vas  the  last  of  June — the  most  perfect  of  all 
the  months — and  as  we  rode  we  repeated  all 
of  the  poets'  praises  of  the  month  that  we 
could  remember.  We  agreed  that  Lowell  had 
sung  the  season  best  : 

"  The  bobolink  has  come,  and,  like  the  soul 
Of  the  sweet  season  vocal  in  a  bird, 
Gurgles  in  ecstasy  we  know  not  what, 
Save  June  !  Dear  June  !  Now  God  be  praised 
for  June." 

But  Margaret  Deland  pleased  us  nearly  as 
well  in  her  homage  to  the  queen  month  : 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY.  261 

"  The  dark  laburnum's  chains  of  gold 

She  twists  about  her  throat  ; 
Perched  on  her  shoulder,  blithe  and  bold, 
The  brown  thrush  sounds  his  note  ! 

"  And  blue  of  the  far  dappled  sky, 

That  shows  at  warm,  still  noon, 
Shines  in  her  softly  smiling  eye — 
Oh  who's  so  sweet  as  June  ?" 

Father  was  not  a  very  successful  tin-ped- 
dter.  The  thrifty  New  England  housewives 
were  not  pleased  because  he  was  unwilling 
to  exchange  his  wares  for  rags,  after  the 
manner  of  other  itinerant  venders.  He  was 
uncertain  as  to  the  prices  which  he  ought  to 
charge;  asking  so  little  for  his  brooms  that 
one  patron  purchased  all  his  stock,  at  a 
decided  loss  to  himself,  as  he  afterwards 
learned,  and  demanding  so  much  for  nut- 
meg graters  that  a  sagacious  purchaser 
showed  him  the  door  with  scorn.  The  sol- 
dering outfit,  too,  caused  him  much  woe.  It 
seemed  that  the  original  peddler  was  a  clqver 
tinker;  and  all  sorts  of  broken  articles,  from 
clocks  to  umbrellas,were  brought  out  for  fath- 
er to  mend.  At  first  father  good  humoredly 
tried  his  best,  but  having  burned  holes  in  his 
clothing,  as  well  as  blistered  his  hands,  and 
succeeding  in  no  instance  in  satisfying  his 


262  WITCH  WINNIE. 

patrons,  he  was  tempted  to  throw  the  lit- 
tle furnace  away,  but  his  sense  of  economy 
would  not  allow  him  to  do  this,  and  he 
stowed  it  away  vindictively  in  the  depths  of 
his  cart. 

Shortly  after  this  we  spent  two  very  inter- 
esting days  in  visiting"  Mt.  Holyoke  and 
Smith  colleges.  They  gave  both  to  Winnie 
and  me  a  desire  for  a  higher  education  than 
that  which  we  were  receiving  at  Madame's. 
Miss  Sartoris  wandered  slowly  through  the 
Art  Building  of  Smith,  looking  longingly  at 
its  superb  equipment.  The  college  is  charm- 
ingly situated  in  the  old  town  of  Northamp- 
ton. We  were  told  that  the  students  had 
just  acted  a  Greek  play,  the  "Electra"  of 
Sophocles,  very  successfully,  and  we  looked 
at  one  another  in  envy  as  we  thought  how 
impossible  it  would  have  been  to  present 
such  a  drama  at  Madame's. 

We  passed  the  Holyoke  range  on  July  i. 
This  barrier  marks  as  distinct  a  climatic 
change  as  Cape  Cod  in  the  Atlantic  cur- 
rents, for,  just  as,  south  of  the  Cape,  and 
apparently  threatened  by  her  bent  arm,  the 
Gulf  Stream  sweeps  to  the  north  the  tropic 
sea-weeds,  and  north  of  it,  and  gathered  close 
in  its  embrace,  the  Arctic  mosses  cling  to  the 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY.  263 

cold  heart  of  New  England  ;  so,  south  of 
the  Holyoke  range  the  air  may  be  tepid 
and  lifeless,  while  beyond  it  invigorating 
breezes  from  the  Northland  are  dancing 
cheerily. 

We  had  eaten  the  last  native  Connecticut 
strawberries,  but  they  were  just  in  their  glory 
north  of  the  barrier,  and  though  the  almanac 
said  July,  it  was  June  weather  still. 

Mount  Tom  and  Mount  Holyoke  stand  as 
sentinels  at  the  entrance  of  a  lovely  region, 
through  whose  elm-covered  villages  we 
drove  at  leisurely  pace,  resting  over  a  Sab- 
bath at  old  Hadley,  one  of  the  most  charm- 
ing places,  with  its  principal  street  a  dou- 
ble cloister  of  elms  and  maples,  and 
where  a  Sabbath  peace  and  stillness  brooded 
even  on  week-days.  Mr.  Stillman  found, 
for  the  next  few  days,  a  ready  sale  for  his 
fireworks,  exhausting  his  stock  and  adding 
twenty-five  dollars  to  the  treasury.  About 
twelve  miles  north  of  Mount  Holyoke  rises 
Mount  Toby,  a  noble  mountain,  which  as- 
sumes, from  certain  directions,  the  shape  of  a 
crouching  camel.  The  resemblance  is  even 
more  marked  than  that  of  the  Rock  of  Gibral- 
tar to  a  lion.  It  dominates  the  country  round 
about,  and  from  its  summit  nearly  a  score 


264  WITCH  WINNIE. 

of  nestling  towns  and  villages  are  visible. 
Among  these  Mr.  Stillman  sold  his  rockets, 
and  proposed  that  we  should  spend  Fourth 
of  July  night  on  its  summit,  and  there  watch 
the  little  fire-fountains  on  the  plain  below. 
It  was  an  attractive  plan,  but  Mr.  Stillman 
had  not  counted  the  weather  into  his  reck- 
oning. It  had  been  a  sultry  day.  As  we 
stopped  at  a  farm-house  on  our  way  from 
Sunderland  to  Mount  Toby,  the  good  woman 
told  us  to  look  out  for  rain.  "  The  grass 
has  been  waiting  two  days  to  be  cut,"  she 
said,  "  but  it  looks  kinder  lowry,  and  the 
men-folks  daresn't  begin  haying." 

There  were  two  superb  cumulus  clouds  in 
the  west,  shaped  like  elm -trees,  or  wine- 
glasses touching  rims,  and  there  was  a  blue 
rain-cloud  in  the  southeast,  with  fringes 
trailing  the  landscape,  and  blurring  it  from 
our  view. 

"  The  rain  may  not  reach  Mount  Toby  at 
all,"  father  said;  "showers  travel  about  among 
those  hills  in  a  curious  fashion.  I  have  seen 
it  raining  hard  on  one  side  of  Sugar-Loaf, 
while  the  other  was  dry  and  dusty.  There  is 
a  deserted  railway  station  at  the  foot  of 
Toby,  where  we  can  spend  the  night.  There 
were  picnic  grounds  laid  out  on  the  moun- 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY.  265 

tain  at  one  time,  but  the  enterprise  failed, 
and  trains  no  longer  stop  there." 

A  view  of  the  station,  which  we  reached 
early  in  the  afternoon,  confirmed  father's 
recommendation  of  it.  The  roof  was  weather 
tight,  and  it  was  a  roomy,  comfortable  build- 
ing, a  good  refuge  should  a  shower  overtake 
us.  We  picnicked  beside  a  beautiful  cascade, 
and  leaving  the  horses  picketed  beside  the 
carts,  proceeded  to  climb  the  mountain  on 
foot.  It  was  glorious  with  masses  of  white 
and  pink  laurel, which  I  had  never  before  seen 
in  its  perfection,  and  Miss  Prillwitz  intro- 
duced me  to  many  other  plants  and  flowers 
new  to  me.  The  Amherst  basket-fern,  shaped 
like  a  Corinthian  capital,  grew  in  perfection, 
the  Columbine  blew  her  flame-colored  trump- 
ets, and  the  harebell  rang  her  inaudible 
chimes  from  mossy  clefts  in  the  gray  rocks. 
Miss  Prillwitz  said  she  had  last  picked  hare- 
bells in  Austria. 

"  You  know,"  said  Miss  Sartoris,  "  that 
Mary  Howitt  calls  the  harebell 

'  The  very  flower  to  take 
Into  the  heart,  and  make 

The  cherished  memory  of  all  pleasant  places; 
Name  but  the  light  harebell, 
And  straight  is  pictured  well 

Where'er  of  fallen  state  lie  lonely  traces. 


266  WITCH  WINNIE. 

Old  slopes  of  pasture  ground, 

Old  fosse  and  moat  and  mound, 
Where  the  mailed  warrior  and  crusader  came; 

Old  walls  of  crumbling  stone 

With  ivy  overgrown, 
Rise  at  the  mention  of  the  harebell's  name.'  " 

Miss  Prillwitz  pointed  out  more  obscure 
plants,  and  gave  us  interesting  bits  of  in- 
formation in  regard  to  them.  Some  had 
strangely  human  characteristics.  The  cassia, 
a  shrinking  sensitive-plant  with  yellow  blos- 
soms, was  one  of  these,  while  the  poison-ivy 
in  its  unctuous  growth  had  an  evil  and  malig- 
nant appearance  which  seemed  to  hint  at  its 
inimical  nature.  She  told  us  how  to  tell  the 
poisonous  sumac  from  the  harmless  variety, 
the  poisonous  kind  being  the  only  one  that 
has  pendant  fruit.  She  gave  us  also  a  little 
chat  about  parasitic  plants,  suggested  by  a 
gerardia,  a  little  thief  which  draws  its  nutri- 
ment from  the  roots  of  huckleberry. 

"  I  did  not  know  that  plants  had  so  little 
conscience,"  said  Winnie.  "It  reminds  me 
of  a  guest  a  Southern  gentleman  had,  who 
remained- twelve  years,  and  after  the  death 
of  the  host  married  his  widow." 

"  Plants  seem  also  to  be  cruel,"  said  Miss 
Prilhvitz.  "  Zere  is  ze  apocynum,  a  car- 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY.  267 

nivorous  plant  which  eat  ze  insect.  You 
should  read  of  him  by  Darwin.  He  set  a 
trap  for  ze  fly  wiz  some  honey,  and  when 
Mr.  Fly  tickle  ze  plant,  quick  he  is  caught, 
and  Mr.  Apocynum  he  eat  him,  and  digest 
him  at  his  leisures." 

"  Miss  Prillwitz,  you  should  write  a  book 
for  young-  people,  and  call  it  '  Near  Nature's 
Heart/  "  I  suggested. 

"  I  would  so  like,"  replied  Miss  Prillwitz, 
"  but  if  I  waste  my  time  to  write,  how  should 
I  earn  my  lifes  ?  I  have  know  many  author, 
and  very  few  do  make  their  wealths  by — by 
their  authority." 

Miss  Prillwitz  brought  out  the  last  word 
triumphantly,  quite  sure  that  she  had  achiev- 
ed a  success  in  our  difficult  language.  I 
turned  aside  to  Mr.  Stillman,  that  she  might 
not  see  my  smile.  "  How  interesting  she 
makes  our  climb,"  I  said,  "  and  all  these  way- 
side weeds  !  '  She  illustrates  the  landscape.'  " 

"  In  my  humble  opinion  it  is  Miss  Sartoris 
who  '  illustrates  the  landscape,'  "  he  replied. 
"  See  what  a  picture  she  makes  reaching 
after  those  sweet-briar  blossoms  !  I  wish  I 
had  not  left  my  detective  at  the  station." 

Miss  Sartoris  was  indeed  very  pretty.  It 
seemed  to  me  that  sh£  grew  younger  and 


268  WITCH  WINNIE. 

more  bewitching  with  every  day  of  our  trip. 
Each  changing"  pose  as  she  leisurely  picked 
the  wild  roses  was  full  of  grace,  but  I  could 
hardly  understand  why  Mr.  Stillman  should 
greatly  regret  not  securing  this  particular 
view,  when  she  had  figured  in  at  least  half  of 
the  photographs  which  he  had  taken. 

We  reached  the  top  of  the  mountain 
just  at  sunset.  The  west  glowed  with  a 
yellow -green  color.  The  strange  clouds, 
which  had  been  as  white  as  curds  in  the 
afternoon,  were  now  dark  blue,  lighted  by 
flashes  of  heat  lightning.  They  moved  for- 
ward like  the  pillar  which  led  the  Israelites, 
great  billowy  masses  piled  one  on  the  other 
and  toppling  at  the  summit,  while  they  melted 
at  the  base  into  a  mist  of  rain.  Behind  them 
was  the  background  of  the  sunset,  like  a 
plate  of  hammered  gold  dashed  with  that 
sinister  green.  There  were  threatening 
rumblings  in  the  east  also,  and  Amherst  and 
its  college  buildings  were  blotted  out  by  the 
rain  clouds,  which  resembled  the  petals  of  a 
fringed  gentian,  and  seemed  to  be  traveling 
rapidly  in  our  direction. 

Father  took  a  rapid  view  of  the  horizon. 
"  There  will  be  no  fireworks  display  for  us 
to-night,"  he  said.  "There  are  two  showers 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY.  269 

which  will  meet  in  an  hour's  time,  and  Toby 
will  be  just  about  in  the  centre  of  the  fracas. 
We  had  better  hurry  down  the  mountain  if 
we  want  to  escape  a  wetting." 

Miss  Sartoris  gave  a  longing  look  at  the 
beautiful  panorama  of  nestling  villages, 
forest  and  winding  river  (a  view  unsur- 
passed in  Massachusetts),  and  now  glori- 
fied by  the  magnificent  cloud  effects. 
"  Can  we  not  rest  for  half  an  hour  ? "  she 
asked. 

"  I  think  not,"  father  replied,  and  we  reluc- 
tantly retraced  our  steps.  When  half-way 
down  the  mountain  the  wind,  which  pre- 
ceded the  march  of  the  cloud  battalion, 
caught  up  with  us.  The  chestnuts  crouched 
low  and  moaned,  the  poplars  shivered  and 
shook  their  white  palms,  and  the  hemlocks 
writhed  and  tossed  their  gaunt  arms  as 
though  in  agony.  Then  there  was  a  hush, 
when  they  seemed  to  stand  still  from  very  fear, 
and  a  minute  later  the  storm  burst  upon  us. 
We  were  but  a  short  distance  from  the  station 
when  this  occurred,  and  the  foliage  which 
roofed  the  road  was  so  dense  that  we  were 
not  very  wet  when  we  reached  our  shelter. 
There  was  an  invigorating  scent  of  ozone  in 
the  air,  and  a  certain  exhilaration  in  being 


2  70  WITCH  WINNIE. 

out  in  a  storm,  and  in  hearing1  the  crash  of 
falling"  limbs  far  back  in  the  woods.  We 
noticed  the  gentleness  of  the  rain,  which, 
though  apparently  fierce,  did  not  break  a 
single  fragile  wild-flower.  Each  leaf,  sponged 
free  from  dust,  brightened  as  though  freshly 
varnished,  and  each  blade  of  grass  threaded 
its  necklace  of  crystal  beads.  The  cascade, 
swollen  and  turbid,  roared  angrily  at  our 
side,  and  a  shallower  rivulet  made  the  path 
slippery  as  we  hurried  on;  but  a  few  moments 
of  laughing  scramble  brought  us  panting 
into  the  dry  station,  safely  housed  for  the 
night  from  the  storm. 

Father  and  Mr.  Stillman  arranged  shelter 
for  the  horses  by  spreading  the  tent  between 
the  two  carts,  and  we  ate  our  supper  at  what 
had  formerly  been  a  refreshment  counter. 
Then  the  ticket-office  was  assigned  to  the 
gentlemen  as  their  dormitory,  and  ham- 
mocks were  hung  for  the  rest  of  us  in  the 
ladies'  waiting-room.  We  told  ghost  stories 
for  a  time  by  the  light  of  a  spirit-lamp  and 
a  few  candles,  but  retired  early,  as  we  were 
thoroughly  tired  from  our  long  walk,  and 
were  soon  asleep,  lulled  by  the  monotone  of 
the  falling  rain.  We  were  not  destined, 
however,  to  enjoy  a  night  of  undisturbed 


0 VER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY. 

repose,  for  the  principal  adventure  of  our 
journey  occurred  that  night. 

I  do  not  know  how  long  we  had  slept 
when  we  were  all  suddenly  awakened  by  a 
startling  scream. 

"  What  is  it  ?  Oh,  what  is  it  ?"  gasped 
Winnie. 

"  Is  it  a  catamount  ?"  asked  Miss  Sartoris. 

I  thought  of  the  railroad  track,  which  ran 
close  beside  us,  and  suggested  that  it  might 
be  the  shriek  of  a  passing  engine,  when  sud- 
denly it  came  again  on  the  side  of  the  sta- 
tion opposite  to  the  track.  Father  sprang 
up,  exclaiming,  "  Something  is  the  matter 
with  the  horses !" 

The  rain  was  still  pouring,  and  a  dim  light 
from  the  swinging  lantern  illumined  the 
room.  As  father  spoke,  one  of  the  windows, 
which  had  been  left  open  for  ventilation, 
was  suddenly  filled  by  an  uncouth  form, 
which,  with  much  scrambling  and  snorting, 
was  proceeding  to  force  an  entrance. 

"It  is  a  bear  !"  shrieked  Winnie;  and  so  it 
was.  Mr.  Stillman  rushed  forward  with  his 
rifle.  There  was  a  loud  report,  and  a  heavy 
fall  on  the  outside. 

"  Horses  can  scent  bears  at  a  distance," 
said  father,  as  he  took  down  the  lantern; 


272  WITCH  WINNIE, 

"  but  who  would  have  thought  there  were 
any  such  creatures  in  these  woods  ?" 

"  Perhaps  it  has  broken  away  from  the 
circus,"  suggested  Mr.  Stillman,  reloading 
his  rifle;  for  there  was  an  ominous  growling 
outside.  Human  voices  were  presently  heard 
whose  intonations  were  almost  as  harsh  as 
those  of  the  brute.  Father  unbarred  the 
door,  and  we  saw  two  men  bending  over  the 
wounded  bear,  which  he  now  saw  was  muz- 
zled, and  the  property  of  the  men,  who  had 
evidently  heard  of  the  old  station,  and 
had  thought  to  take  refuge  in  it  from  the 
storm. 

"  Here's  a  pretty  state  of  things!"  father 
exclaimed,  with  a  whistle.  "  You  have  shot 
a  performing  bear,  Stillman,  and  these  show- 
men will  probably  make  us  pay  dearly  for 
the  mistake." 

We  had  all  been  terribly  frightened;  but 
we  recovered  instantly  on  this  announce- 
ment, and  hurriedly  dressing,  we  peered 
out  at  the  men  as  they  stood  about  the 
wounded  animal  and  discussed  the  situ- 
ation. One  of  the  showmen  was  a  foreigner, 
who  swore  and  grumbled  in  some  strange 
language,  which  Miss  Prillwitz  afterward 
told  us  was  Russian,  The  other  was  unmis- 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY. 


273 


takably  a  Jew,  and  he  took  a  Jewish  advan- 
tage of  the  accident. 

o 

"  You  haf  ruined  our  pizness — dot  bear  he 
wort  one,  two  hundert  dollar  !" 

"  Nonsense!"  replied  father,  as  confidently 
as  if  he  were  accustomed  to  trade  in  that 
species  of  live-stock  ;  "  he's  dear  at  fifty. 
Besides,  he  isn't  dead,  nor  anything  like  it. 
Hold  him  with  this  halter,  you  two,  and  I'll 
examine  him.  There  !  I  told  you  so;  it's  only 
a  flesh  wound  in  the  right  foreleg.  There 
are  no  bones  broken.  He  will  be  ready  for 
travel  in  a  week.  .  All  you've  got  to  do  is  to 
stay  here  for  a  few  days — and  where  could 
you  be  better  off  ?  We  leave  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  no  one  will  dispute  your  possession 
of  this  house.  I  will  leave  you  enough  pro- 
visions to  keep  you  until  you  are  ready  for 
the  road  again." 

The  men  talked  it  over  in  Russian,  and 
seemed  far  from  satisfied,  though  Mr.  Still- 
man  offered  to  give  them  twenty  dollars  as 
an  equivalent  for  what  they  would  have 
gained  during  the  next  week,  and  father 
added  his  remaining  stock  of  small  tinware, 
which,  he  explained,  they  could  easily  sell 
from  door  to  door  at  the  farm-houses  and 
villages  in  the  vicinity.  He  was  tired  of  his 

18 


274 


WITCH  WINNIE. 


occupation  as  a  tin-peddler,  and  glad  to  get 
rid  of  the  obnoxious  soldering  furnace,  as 
well  as  the  patty-pans  and  muffin-rings.  A 
settlement  was  finally  effected  when,  in  ad- 
dition to  this,  Mr.  Stillman  agreed  to  their 
demand  for  fifty  dollars  cash  indemnity. 

There  was  no  more  sleep  for  us  that  night, 
and  it  was  with  rueful  countenances  that  we 
discussed  the  adventure  among  ourselves. 

"  To  think,"  lamented  Winnie,  "  that,  just 
as  we  were  congratulating  ourselves  on  gain- 
ing so  much  money  for  the  Home,  we  should 
be  obliged  to  pay  it  all  out,  and  more  besides, 
to  these  wretched  men,  and  all  for  noth- 
ing too !" 

"  Yes,"  replied  Mr.  Stillman,  "  that  is  the 
provoking  part.  If  I  had  only  killed  the 
creature  we  might  have  bear-steak  for  break- 
fast (though  it  would  have  been  pretty  ex- 
pensive meat),  and  I  could  have  had  his  hide 
mounted  as  a  rug,  and  have  exhibited  it  to 
my  friends  with  truthful  braggadocio  as  one 
of  my  hunting  trophies." 

I  sympathized  with  Winnie  in  regard  to 
the  depleted  condition  of  our  treasury;  but 
Miss  Prillwitz  remarked,  enigmatically,  that 
the  adventure  might  not  prove  to  be  such  a 
losing  one  as  we  imagined.  We  begged  her 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY.  2 75 

to  explain;  but  she  bade  us  wait  until  we 
were  at  least  ten  miles  from  our  encamp- 
ment. 

We  relinquished  the  station  to  the  show- 
men after  a  very  early  breakfast,  and  drove 
away  with  lightened  carts  and  subdued 
spirits. 

The  rain  had  ceased,  but  was  likely  to 
begin  again  at  any  moment,  for  the  sky  was 
thickly  overcast,  and  father  suggested  that, 
as  this  was  a  famous  trout  region,  we  might 
do  well  to  spend  the  morning  in  fishing. 
This  plan  pleased  all  but  Miss  Prillwitz,  who 
whispered  to  father  that  she  had  particular 
reasons  for  reaching  a  telegraph  station  as 
soon  as  possible,  and  we  accordingly  direct- 
ed our  course  at  a  rattling  pace  toward  the 
shire  town  of  Greenfield.  On  the  way  Miss 
Prillwitz  confided  to  us  her  suspicions;  and  in 
order  that  the  reader  may  understand  them, 
I  must  anticipate  the  events  which  are  to  be 
related  in  the  next  chapter,  and  explain  that, 
after  the  explosion  at  Rickett's  Court,  Solo- 
mon Meyer  and  one  of  the  anarchists  had 
disappeared  from  New  York,  and  Mr.  Arm- 
strong had  offered  a  reward  for  their  appre- 
hension. 

The  anarchist  was  known  to  be  a  Russian, 


2/6  WITCH  WINNIE, 

and  though  Miss  Prillwitz  had  never  seen 
Solomon  Meyer,  she  felt  sure,  from  Lovey 
Trimble's  description  of  him,  that  he  had  de- 
cided to  avoid  the  ordinary  routes  of  travel, 
and  to  journey  toward  Canada  on  foot,  dis- 
guised as  an  itinerant  showman.  She  had 
more  proofs  of  his  identity  than  these  sus- 
picions. The  men  had  conversed  very  freely 
with  each  other  in  Russian,  never  dream- 
ing that  there  was  any  one  present  who 
could  understand  the  language.  The  Rus- 
sian had  complained  bitterly  that  this  acci- 
dent would  delay  their  journey  to  Canada, 
and  the  Jew  had  replied  that  it  might  be  as 
well  to  lie  hidden  until  the  search  was  over. 

Arrived  at  Greenfield,  Miss  Prillwitz  tele- 
graphed to  Mr.  Armstrong,  and  in  two  hours 
received  the  following  reply :  "  Have  the 
local  authorities  arrest  the  parties  and  detain 
them  until  I  can  reach  Greenfield." 

Accordingly  Mr.  Still  man  and  father, 
with  a  sheriff  and  a  constable,  drove  back 
toward  Mount  Toby  in  a  sort  of  picnic 
wagon.  Father  advised  us  to  await  him  at 
Deerfield,  one  of  the  most  interesting 
villages  in  the  Connecticut  Valley  —  both 
from  its  intrinsic  beauty  and  its  historic 
associations.  We  engaged  lodgings  at  the 


OVER  THE  HfLLS  AN~D  FAR  AWAY. 

small  hotel,  where  we  found  but  one  other 
traveler,  a  dejected  book  -  agent.  It  was 
nearly  dinner-time,  and  the  landlord  looked 
rather  alarmed  by  the  unexpected  arrival  of 
so  many  hungry-looking  guests,  but  he  soon 
set  before  us  a  capital  dinner  of  broiled 
chicken,  and  after  a  little  rest  we  took  a 
stroll  through  the  beautiful  old  town.  We 
were  informed  that  the  Memorial  Hall,  a 
museum  of  antique  furniture,  books,  cos- 
tumes, and  other  curiosities,  was  well  worth 
visiting;  and  so,  indeed,  we  found  it.  One 
object  which  greatly  interested  me  was  an 
old  spinnet,  with  a  quaint  collection  of 
music,  both  sacred  and  secular.  Here  was 
a  great  bass-viol  which  formerely  groaned 
out  an  accompaniment  to  the  male  voices  of 
the  choir  as  they  took  their  part  in  such 
strange,  metrical  arrangements  as 

"  Come,  my  beloved,  haste  away, 
Cut  short  the  hours  of  thy  delay; 
Fly  like  a  youthful  hart  or  roe, 
Over  the  hills  where  spices  grow." 

The  Library,  too,  a  collection  of  "  the  (lit- 
erary) remains  "  of  many  celebrated  doctors 
of  divinity,  was  a  fascinating  room,  and  one 
in  which  we  would  have  enjoyed  prowling 


278  WITCH  WINNIE. 

for  a  long  time.  Hawthorne  has  given  such 
an  admirable  description,  in  his  "  Old 
Manse,"  of  just  such  a  library,  that  I  cannot 
forbear  quoting  it  here. 

"  The  old  books  would  (for  the  most 
part)  have  been  worth  nothing  at  an  auction. 
They  possessed  an  interest  quite"  apart  from 
their  literary  value  ;  many  of  them  had  been 
transmitted  down  through  a  series  of  conse- 
crated hands  from  the  days  of  the  mighty 
Puritan  divines.  A  few  of  the  books  were 
Latin  folios  written  by  Catholic  authors ; 
others  demolished  papistry  as  with  a  sledge- 
hammer, in  plain  English.  A  dissertation 
on  the  book  of  Job,  which  only  Job  himself 
could  have  had  the  patience  to  read,  filled 
at  least  a  score  of  small,  thick-set  quartos, 
at  the  rate  of  two  or  three  volumes  to  a 
chapter.  Then  there  was  a  vast  folio  "  Body 
of  Divinity."  Volumes  of  this  form  dated 
back  two  hundred  years  and  more,  and  were 
generally  bound  in  black  leather,  exhibiting 
precisely  such  an  appearance  as  we  should 
attribute  to  books  of  enchantment.  Others 
equally  antique  were  of  a  size  proper  to  be 
carried  in  the  large  waistcoat  pockets  of  old 
times :  diminutive,  but  as  black  as  their 
bulkier  brethren.  These  little  old  volumes 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  A  WAY.  279 

impressed  me  as  if  they  had  been  intended 
for  very  large  ones,  but  had  been,  unfortu- 
nately, blighted  at  an  early  stage  of  their 
growth.  Then  there  were  old  newspapers, 
and  still  older  almanacs,  which  reproduced 
the  epochs  when  they  had  issued  from  the 
press  with  a  distinctness  that  was  altogether 
unaccountable.  It  was  as  if  I  had  found  bits 
of  magic  looking-glass  among  the  books, 
with  the  images  of  a  vanished  century  in 
them." 

We  lingered  long  in  the  Library,  and  in  the 
Indian  Room,  where  stands  an  old  door 
gashed  by  the  tomahawks  of  the  Indians 
who,  with  a  company  of  French,  in  1704, 
surprised  Deerfield,  massacred  a  great  part 
of  the  inhabitants,  and  carried  a  hun- 
dred and  twelve  as  prisoners  to  Canada. 
Yellow  and  crumbling  letters,  uncertainly 
spelled  and  quaintly  phrased,  hung  around 
the  room,  telling  how  perilous  such  a  driv- 
ing-tour as  we  had  just  taken  would  have 
been  in  those  pioneer  days.  One,  dated 
1756  and  written  to  Captain  John  Burt  in 
the  Crown  Point  Army,  read  as  follows : 

"  Dear  Husband. 

"  It  is  a  Crasie  time  in 
this  place.     There  is  but  little  Traviling  by 


28O  WITCH  WINNIE. 

the  Massachusetts  Fort  which  makes  it  more 
difficult  to  send  letters.  Capt.  Chapin  and 
Chidester  and  his  Son  were  killed  and  scalpt 
by  the  Enemy  near  the  new  foort  at  Hoo- 
sack." 

Sarah  Williams,  of  Roxbury,  in  1714 
announces  to  her  friends  at  Deerfield  the 
expected  return  of  many  of  their  friends 
who  had  been  carried  off  in  different  raids — 
"  We  have  had  news  that  Unkel  is  Coming 
with  one  hundred  and  fifty  Captives." 

The  number  dwindled,  and  many  who  . 
were  carried  away  on  that  dreary  march 
through  the  winter  snow  never  returned,  but 
among  the  relics  preserved  in  the  archives  of 
Memorial  Hall  is  a  pathetic  little  red  shoe 
which  walked  all  the  way  from  Hatfield  to 
Canada  and  back,  on  the  foot  of  little  Sally 
Colman.  It  is  hardly  more  than  a  tiny  sole, 
with  a  rag  of  the  scarlet  upper  clinging  to  it, 
but  it  tells  the  story  of  the  cruel  march,  and 
the  heroic  efforts  of  the  noble  men  who 
effected  the  rescue  of  their  friends,  better 
than  many  a  page  of  print. 

We  were  so  much  interested  in  Memorial 
Hall  that  it  was  long  past  supper-time  before 
we  thought  of  leaving.  The  book-agent  ad- 
vised us  to  visit  the  old  burying-ground,  and, 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY.  281 

after  supper,  offered  to  show  us  the  way. 
We  found  it  grass-grown  and  neglected ;  in 
some  portions,  a  thicket  of  climbing  vines 
and  tangling  briers.  Indeed,  the  entire  God's 
acre  was  so  given  over  to  nature  that  the 
birds  built  undismayed,  while  the  squirrel 
frisked  impudently  on  the  headstones,  and 
the  woodchuck  burrowed  beside  the  tombs. 
It  had  not  been  used  for  many  years  ;  a 
newer  cemetery  raised  its  white  monuments 
on  the  hillside,  while  here  lichens  nearly  fill- 
ed the  carving,  and  the  stones  leaned  at 
tipsy  angles,  proving  that  grief  for  any 
buried  here  had  been  long  assuaged,  that  the 
very  mourners  had  passed  away,  and  it  was 
doubtful  whether  a  single  aged  man  still 
lingered  in  the  town  of  whom  it  could  be 
said  that 

"  These  mossy  marbles  rest 
On  the  lips  which  he  has  pressed 

In  their  bloom. 

And  the  names  he  loved  to  hear 
Have  been  carved  for  many  a  year 

On  the  tomb." 

As  Miss  Sartoris  remarked,  the  place  did 
not  suggest  sadness,  but  gentle  retrospection, 
while  curiosity  provoked  the  fancy  to  fill  out 
the  histories  so  provokingly  suggested  in  the 


282  WITCH  WIKNIE. 

inscriptions.  Here  was  buried  Mrs.  Williams, 
whom  her  epitaph  declares  to  be  "the  virtuous 
and  desirable  consort  of  Mr.  John  Williams," 
and  Mr.  Mehuman  Hinsdale,  who  was  "twice 
captivated  by  the  barbarous  salvages." 

The  book-agent  read  us  another  epitaph, 
copied  in  Vernon,  Vt.,  which  suggested  a 
three-volume  novel  in  the  history  which  it 
gave  of  early  Indian  times.  Our  imagina- 
tions sank  exhausted  as  we  attempted  to  fol- 
low the  heroine  through  all  her  matrimonial 
complications,  I  give  it  as  it  was  dictated 
to  me: 

MRS.  JEMIMA  TUTE, 
SUCCESSIVELY  RELICT  OF  MESSRS.  WILLIAM  PHIPS, 

CALEB  HOWE,  AND  AMOS  TUTE. 
THE  TWO  FIRST  WERE  KILLED  BY  THE  INDIANS, 

PHIPS,  JULY  5,  1743;  HOWE,  JUNE  27,  1755. 
WHEN  HOWE  WAS  KILLED,  SHE  AND  HER  CHILDREN, 
THEN  SEVEN  IN  NUMBER,  WERE  CARRIED  INTO  CAPTIVITY. 
THE  OLDEST  DAUGHTER  WENT  TO  FRANCE,  AND  WAS 
MARRIED  TO  A  FRENCH  GENTLEMAN.  THE  YOUNGEST  WAS 
TORN  FROM  HER  BREAST,  AND  PERISHED  WITH  HUNGER. 
BY  THE  AID  OF  SOME  BENEVOLENT  GENTLEMEN,  AND  HER 
OWN  PERSONAL  HEROISM,  SHE  RECOVERED  THE  REST. 
SHE  DIED  MARCH  7,  1805,  HAVING  PASSED  THROUGH 
MORE  VICISSITUDES  AND  ENDURED  MORE  HARDSHIPS  THAN 
ANY  OF  HER  CONTEMPORARIES. 

" '  No  more  can  savage  foe  annoy, 

Nor  aught  her  widespread  fame  destroy.' " 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY.  283 

It  was  dark  when  we  wandered  back  to 
the  hotel,  past  the  old  manse  built  for  the 
Reverend  John  Williams  by  his  parishioners 
after  his  return  from  captivity.  We  were 
told  that  some  one  residing  in  the  house  of 
late  had  occasion  to  move  a  tall  piece  of 
furniture  in  one  of  the  chambers,  and  dis- 
covered a  door.  Opening  this,  a  secret  stair- 
case was  found  leading  from  the  cellar  to 
the  attic.  No  one  living  had  known  of  its 
existence,  and  many  were  the  wild  guesses 
made  as  to  its  object. 

When  we  returned  to  the  hotel  we  found 
that  father  and  Mr.  Stillman  had  not  yet 
arrived.  Miss  Sartoris  seemed  very  anxious, 
and  feared  that  there  might  have  been 
trouble  in  arresting  the  tramps.  Winnie 
cheered  us  by  suggesting  the  trout  fishing, 
which  Mr.  Stillman  had  reluctantly  aban- 
doned when  we  left  Mt.  Toby.  It  would  be 
a  good  night  for  fishing,  the  landlord  said  ; 
perhaps  they  had  remained  for  it,  since  the 
distance  to  Toby  was  too  long  to  be  comfort- 
ably made  three  times  in  one  day.  After 
breakfast  the  next  morning,  as  our  travelers 
were  still  absent,  Miss  Sartoris  and  I  unpacked 
our  sketch-boxes  and  began  to  make  a  study 
of  the  street  from  the  north  end,  just  at  the 


284  WITCH  WINNIE. 

point  where  the  French  and  Indians,  "  swarm- 
ing over  the  palisades  on  the  drifted  snow, 
surprised  and  sacked  the  sleeping  town." 

Miss  Prillwitz  and  Winnie,  with  their 
botanists'  cans,  followed  a  little  brook  that 
ran  at  the  back  of  the  hotel,  and  came  back 
laden  with  blue  German  forget-me-nots. 
Father  and  Mr.  Stillman  arrived  just  before 
dinner,  Mr.  Stillman  carrying  in  one  hand  a 
string  of  beautiful  speckled  trout,  and  in  the 
other  something  which  looked  like  a  buffalo- 
robe.  He  looked  very  triumphant  and  happy, 
while  father  followed,  carrying  in  a  rather 
sheepish  manner — what  but  the  old  soldering 
furnace  !  We  greeted  them  with  so  much 
laughter  and  so  many  questions  that  it  was 
some  time  before  they  could  give  an  account 
of  their  adventures. 

Arrived  at  the  Mount  Toby  railroad 
station,  they  had  found  it  deserted.  The 
men  having  evidently  decided  that  it  was 
not  safe  to  await  the  recovery  of  the  bear, 
had  accordingly  killed  it,  and  secreted 
it  in  a  cave  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain. 
The  sheriff  knew  of  this  cave,  and  in  ex- 
amining it  in  search  of  the  men,  found  the 
carcass  of  the  bear. 

"  And  so,"  exclaimed  Mr.  Stillman,  exhib- 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY.  285 

iting  the  skin,  "  I  secured  my  rug,  after  all, 
but  we  concluded  that  the  meat  looked  rather 
tough,  and  we  would  not  take  it.  I  shall 
express  this  skin  straight  to  a  taxidermist 
that  I  know,  and  have  it  handsomely 
mounted." 

"  But  the  men!"  I  asked;  "  you  don't  mean 
to  tell  me  that  they  escaped  ?  " 

"  No,"  replied  father  ;  "  but  if  you  can't 
keep  quiet  I  shall  not  be  able  to  tell  you  how 
they  were  caught.  It  was  this  very  ill-luck- 
bringing  soldering  outfit  that  did  it.  When 
we  found  that  they  had  left,  I  suspected 
that  they  had  taken  the  morning  train  for 
Canada  at  the  Montague  station,  for  no  trains 
stopped  at  Toby  ;  and  in  case  they  had  done 
that,  there  was  hardly  a  chance  of  our  reach- 
ing the  station  and  ascertaining  the  fact  in 
time  to  telegraph  and  effect  their  arrest  be- 
fore they  could  leave  the  country.  We 
had  driven  from  Greenfield  pretty  rapidly, 
and  our  horses  were  tired  ;  then  we  took  a 
wrong  turning,  and  got  off  into  Leverett,  or 
some  other  unhappy  wilderness ;  but  after 
a  while  we  found  a  farmer  who  provided  us 
with  fresh  beasts,  and  we  reached  the  Monta- 
gue station  toward  evening.  It  was  shut  up, 
and  the  station-master  had  gone  home,  but 


286  WITCH  WINNIE. 

after  another  half-hour  we  found  him.  Yes, 
our  men  had  bought  tickets  for  Montreal 
that  morning.  Then  you  should  have  seen 
our  hurry  to  telegraph ;  but  the  station- 
master  advised  us  to  keep  cool,  and  wait  a 
little.  '  They  bought  their  tickets,'  he  said, 
'  but  they  didn't  go  there.'  So  that  was  a 
feint,  I  thought,  to  throw  us  off  the  track. 
But  no  ;  on  their  way  from  Toby  they  had 
decided  that  they  would  have  a  cup  of  coffee, 
and  they  had  sat  down  behind  a  barn  to 
make  it  on  my  soldering  furnace,  and  as 
they  were  doubtless  as  tired  of  carrying  the 
old  thing  as  I  was,  they  left  it  there.  The 
wind  blew  the  coals  into  the  hay,  and  in  a 
few  minutes  the  barn  was  on  fire.  Someone 
had  seen  them  leave  the  yard,  and  before 
the  train  came  along  for  which  they  were 
waiting,  they  were  arrested  as  incendiaries, 
and  taken  to  the  Greenfield  jail.  As  this 
was  precisely  where  the  sheriff  wished  to 
take  them,  there  was  nothing  for  him  to  do 
but  to  return  and  notify  the  authorities  that 
the  men  would  be  wanted  soon  on  more  seri- 
ous charges.  And  as  the  station-master  in- 
formed us  that  there  was  some  good  trout- 
fishing  nearby,  we  decided  to  spend  the  night 
in  Montague.  So  we  let  the  sheriff  and  con- 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY.  287 

stable  drive  back  to  Greenfield  without  us, 
and  telegraphed  Mr.  Armstrong  that  his 
birds  were  caught." 

"  If  they  only  turn  out  to  be  his  birds  !  " 
said  Winnie. 

"  I  haf  no  doubtfuls  of  zat,"  said  Miss 
Prillwitz. 

"  But  why  did  you  bring  back  that  wretched 
little  furnace  and  iron  ?  "  I  asked. 

"Why,  the  curious  part  of  it  is  that  the 
farmer  who  drove  us  over  this  morning  had 
found  them  in  the  ruins  of  his  barn,  and  he 
brought  them  along,  thinking  that  we  might 
like  them  to  help  in  identifying  the  rascals. 
I  couldn't  refuse  his  kindness,  but  I  certainly 
shall  not  carry  them  away  from  this  place. 
I  don't  believe  in  such  nonsense,  but  the 
gypsy's  prediction  has  come  true  so  far,  and 
they  brought  bad  fortune  to  the  gentlemen 
to  whom  I  presented  them." 

Mr.  Armstrong,  who  had  been  telegraphed 
for,  arrived  with  a  police  officer  that  night ; 
and  Miss  Prillwitz,  father,  and  Mr.  Stillman 
were  absent  all  the  next  morning  making 
depositions  to  aid  in  the  identification  of  the 
prisoners. 

It  was  finally  decided  to  remove  them  to 
New  York  to  await  trial  on  Mr.  Armstrong's 


288  WITCH  WINNIE. 

charges.  We  set  out  that  afternoon  for  Ash- 
field,  our  route  leading  us  over  beautiful  hills, 
and  affording  us  views  of  rare  loveliness. 
Ashfield  is  a  village  loved  by  literary  men  as 
Deerfield  is  by  artists.  Deerfield  nestles  in  a 
valley,  while  Ashfield  lies  on  the  breezy  hill- 
top ;  George  William  Curtis  is  the  centre  of 
the  coterie  of  rare  minds  who  make  Ashfield 
their  summer  home.  Mr.  Curtis  gives  a  lec- 
ture here  once  a  year  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Sanderson  Academy.  At  this  time  every  man- 
ner of  vehicle  brings  the  country-people  over 
the  winding  roads,  which  converge  in  Ash- 
field like  the  spokes  of  a  wheel  in  their  hub. 
We  were  not  fortunate  enough  to  light  on 
this  red-letter  day,  and  we  accordingly  rested 
over  night  at  the  long  low  inn,  and  started 
early  the  next  morning  for  uncle's  home  in 
Hawley.  The  distance  was  short,  as  the  crow 
flies,  but  it  seemed  to  be  all  up-hill.  The  last 
mile  was  through  one  of  those  gorges  so  com- 
mon in  this  region,  where  the  fissure  between 
the  hills  is  so  narrow  that  the  sun  only  looks  in 
for  two  or  three  hours.  Slowly  climbing  the 
long,  green-vaulted  stairway,  the  dusky  tap- 
estry was  at  length  looped  back  for  us,  and 
the  road,  emerging  from  the  wooded  ravine, 
gleamed  yellow-white  between  the  grassy 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY.  289 

mounds.  Crowning  one  of  these  knolls  stood 
a  long,  white  farm-house,  spreading  out 
wing  after  wing  in  hospitable  effort  to  shelter 
the  entire  hill-top.  Beside  the  road  stood  a 
post  with  a  letter-box  affixed,  for  the  recep- 
tion of  the  mail  left  by  the  daily  stage.  We 
passed  a  huddle  of  old  barns  and  out-build- 
ings, among  which  I  recognized  a  carpenter's 
shop,  a  carriage-shed,  a  sugar-house  in  con- 
venient proximity  to  a  grove  of  maples,  a 
dairy  through  which  ran  the  brook,  keeping 
cool  and  solid  the  eighty  pounds  of  butter 
which  my  cousins  made  each  week,  a  cider- 
mill,  and  behind  it  an  orchard  of  russet  apple- 
trees,  and  a  long  row  of  bee-hives  fronting  the 
flower-garden. 

Uncle  expected  us,  and  it  was  delightful 
to  see  the  meeting  between  the  two  brothers, 
who  had  not  seen  each  other  in  twelve  years. 
There  were  plenty  of  airy  bedrooms,  hung 
with  pure  white  dimity,  and  after  our  gypsy 
life  it  seemed  very  pleasant  to  find  once 
more  the  comforts  of  a  home.  We  spent 
several  days  at  the  Maples,  attending  service 
in  the  dear  old-fashioned  church  with  its. 
high,  square  pews. 

Aunt  Prue  had  all  of  our  travel-soiled 
clothing  neatly  washed,  and  refilled  the 


2QO 


WITCH  WINNIE. 


emptied  hampers  and  lunch-baskets  with 
abundant  supplies  from  the  products  of  the 
farm  and  her  own  good  cookery. 

Uncle  was  a  large,  easy  man,  who  dearly 
loved  to  tell  a  story  to  match  his  own  ample 
proportions,  only  the  twinkle  in  his  eye  re- 
deeming him  from  the  charge  of  deception. 
Aunt  Prue's  rigid  conscience  revolted  at 
uncle's  romances.  "  Asahel  Smith  !"  she  would 
exclaim,  "how  can  you  lie  like  that ;  and 
you  a  church-member  ?  " 

"  Now,  Prudence,"  Uncle  Asahel  would  re- 
ply, "  the  catechism  says  a  lie  is  a  story  told 
with  intention  to  deceive,  and  when  I  told 
these  girls  that  I  drove  the  oxen  home  with 
the  last  load  of  hay  so  fast  that  I  got  it  into 
the  barn  before  a  drop  of  water  fell,  while  it 
was  raining  so  hard  behind  me  that  Watch, 
who  was  following  the  wagon,  actually  swam 
all  the  way  up  from  the  medder — when  I  told 
'em  that,  I  cal'late  I  didn't  deceive  'em ;  I 
was  only  cultivating  their  imaginations." 

Aunt  Prue  groaned  in  spirit,  and  began  to 
sing,  in  a  high,  cracked  voice. 

"  False  are  the  men  of  high  degree, 
The  baser  sort  are  vanity; 
Weighed  in  the  balance,  both  appear 
Light  as  a  puff  of  empty  air." 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY. 


29! 


While  at  The  Maples  we  made  an  excur- 
sion to  Cummington,  formerly  Bryant's 
home.  We  sat  in  the  library,  shut  in  by  a 
thick  grove,  where  he  composed  his  transla- 
tions of  the  Odyssey  and  Iliad,  and  we 
played  with  a  little  pet  dog  of  which  he  had 
been  very  fond.  Not  far  from  the  estate  is 
a  fine  library,  Bryant's  gift  to  the  little  town. 
"  Bryant's  River  "  is  a  brawling  little  stream 
which  flows  through  a  very  picturesque 
region.  We  amused  ourselves  by  fancying 
that  we  recognized  spots  described  in  sev- 
eral of  his  poems. 

There  was  a  grand  old  oak  upon  the  place 
which  might  have  inspired  his  lines — 

"  This  mighty  oak — 

By  whose  immovable  stem  I  stand,  and  seem 
Almost  annihilated — not  a  prince 
In  all  that  proud  Old  World  beyond  the  deep 
E'er  wore  his  crown  as  loftily  as  he 
Wears  the  green  coronal  of  leaves  with  which 
Thy  hand  has  graced  him." 

The  scenery  about  Cummington  and  Haw- 
ley  tempted  us  to  a  frequent  use  of  our 
sketching-materials.  Mr.  Stillman,  too,  found 
several  birds  new  to  him,  and  took  some  beau- 
tiful landscape  photographs.  Miss  Sartoris 
gave  him  new  ideas  about  choosing  views 


292 


WITCH  WINNIE. 


where  mountain  and  cloud,  trees  and  reflec- 
tions, composed  well,  and  his  photographs  be- 
came much  more  artistic.  He  began  to  talk 
about  the  importance  of  placing  his  darkest 
dark  here,  and  his  highest  light  there,  of  bal- 
ancing a  steeple  in  this  part  of  his  picture  by 
a  human  interest  in  the  foreground,  of  mass- 
ing his  shadows,  of  angular  composition,  of 
tone  and  harmony,  and  the  rest  of  the  cant 
of  the  studio.  Nor  was  it  all  cant ;  Miss 
Sartoris  had  taught  him  to  see  more  in  na- 
ture than  he  had  ever  seen  before,  and  while 
his  ambition  had  hitherto  been  to  secure 
sharp  photographs  of  instantaneous  effects — 
mere  feats  of  mechanical  skill — his  aim  was 
now  to  produce  pictures  satisfying  to  highly 
cultivated  tastes.  He  acknowledged  that 
all  this  was  due  to  Miss  Sartoris,  \vho  had 
opened  a  new  world  to  him,  though  it  seem- 
ed to  me  that  he  really  owed  quite  as  much 
to  Miss  Prillwitz,  but  for  whose  influence  he 
would  never  have  taken  up  photography. 
I  was  a  little  jealous  for  our  princess,  and 
felt  that,  though  Miss  Sartoris  was  young 
and  fair,  and  Miss  Prillwitz  old  and  wrinkled, 
this  was  no  reason  why  honor  should  not  be 
rendered  where  honor  was  due. 
There  was  a  pond  with  a  bit  of  swamp 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY. 


293 


land  on  uncle's  farm,  which  he  considered 
the  blot  on  the  place,  but  which  Miss  Sartoris 
declared  was  a  real  treasure-trove  for  a  pic- 
ture. One  end  was  covered  with  lily-pads, 
and  great  waxy  pond-lilies  were  opening 
their  alabaster  lamps  here  and  there  on  the 
surface,  while  the  yellow  cow-lilies  dotted 
the  other  end  with  their  butter-pats.  Cat-tails 
and  rushes  grew  in  the  shallower  portions, 
and  here  was  to  be  found  the  rare  moccasin- 
flower,  a  pink  and  white  orchid  of  exquisite 
shape.  Miss  Sartoris  painted  a  beautiful 
picture  here.  She  said  it  reminded  her  of 
the  pond  which  Ruskin  describes  with  an 
artist's  insight  and  enthusiasm. 

"  A  great  painter  sees  beneath  and  behind 
the  brown  surface  what  will  take  him  a  day's 
work  to  follow  ;  and  he  follows  it,  cost  what 
it  will.  He  sees  it  is  not  the  dull,  dirty, 
blank  thing  which  he  supposes  it  to  be  ;  it 
has  a  heart  as  well  as  ourselves,  and  in  the 
bottom  of  that  there  are  the  boughs  of  the 
tall  trees  and  their  quivering  leaves,  and  all 
the  hazy  passages  of  sunshine,  the  blades  of 
the  shaking  grass,  with  all  manner  of  hues  of 
variable,  pleasant  light  out  of  the  sky ;  and 
the  bottom  seen  in  the  clear  little  bits  at  the 
edge,  and  the  stones  of  it,  and  all  the  sky. 


294  WITCH  WINNIE. 

For  the  ugly  gutter  that  stagnates  over  the 
drain-bars  in  the  heart  of  the  foul  city  is  not 
altogether  base.  It  is  at  your  will  that  you 
see  in  that  despised  stream  either  the  refuse 
of  the  street  or  the  image  of  the  sky  ;  so 
it  is  with  many  other  things  which  we 
unkindly  despise." 

We  all  regretted  when  our  short  visit  at 
The  Maples  came  to  an  end,  but  Miss  Prill- 
witz  felt  that  she  must  be  hastening  back  to 
the  Home,  and  we  had  already  transgressed 
the  bounds  which  we  had  set  to  our  outing. 
We  decided  to  vary  our  journey  by  return- 
ing through  Berkshire.  We  drove,  the  first 
day,  to  Pittsfield,  a  flourishing  little  city,  and 
now  for  the  first  time  we  felt  ourselves  out 
of  place  in  the  peddler's  carts.  Nowhere 
else  had  we  attracted  any  special  attention. 
It  was  a  common  thing  for  tin-peddlers  to 
take  their  feminine  relatives  with  them  on 
their  jaunts,  and  as  we  dressed  very  plainly, 
and  conducted  ourselves  with  gravity,  no 
one  gave  us  a  second  look. 

At  Pittsfield,  however,  we  came  in  con- 
tact once  more  with  "society,"  and  the 
loungers  on  the  hotel  veranda  gave  us  a 
broadside  of  astonished  looks  as  we  alighted. 
"  It  is  very  disagreeable  to  be  stared  at  in 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY. 


295 


this  way,"  Winnie  remarked  to  Miss  Prill- 
witz  as  we  entered. 

"  My  tear,"  replied  the  good  lady,  "  it  takes 
four  eyes  to  make  a  stare."* 

Winnie  colored  deeply,  for  she  knew  that  if 
she  had  been  less  self-conscious  she  would 
not  have  felt  the  curious  and  impertinent 
gaze.  We  left  Pittsfield  so  early  the  next 
morning  that  none  of  the  hotel  loungers  were 
on  the  piazza  to  comment  on  our  appearance. 

We  drove,  that  day,  over  the  lovely  Lenox 
hills,  once  covered  by  stony  pastures,  dotted 
here  and  there  by  lonely  farm-houses,  but 
now  a  succession  of  beautiful  parks  and 
aristocratic  villas  and  mansions.  Mr.  Still- 
man  had  his  camera  out,  and  photographed 
a  number  of  the  handsome  residences  as  we 
passed,  and  one  of  the  gay  little  village-carts 
driven  by  a  young  woman  dressed  in  the 
height  of  fashion,  and  presided  over  by  a 
footman  in  livery. 

"That  does  not  seem  to  me  a  sensible  way 
of  going  into  the  country,"  said  Winnie. 
"  I  don't  believe  she  has  half  the  fun  that  we 
have  in  this  old  caravan." 

*  A  remark  once  made  by  Professor  Maria  Mitchell  to 
a  student  of  Vassar  College  who  had  made  a  similar  com- 
plaint. 


296  WITCH  WINNIE. 

"Perhaps  not,"  I  replied,  "but  I  presume 
that  Adelaide  and  Milly  are  driving  about  in 
much  the  same  style ;  and  we  know  that 
better-hearted  girls  never  lived." 

r** 

We  picnicked  near  "  Stockbridge  Bowl,"  a 
lovely  lake,  blue  as  Geneva  and  encircled  by 
beautiful  hills.  As  father  brought  out  the 
lunch-hamper  I  noticed  a  queer  expression 
on  his  face.  "  What  do  you  suppose  I  have 
found  stowed  away  in  the  back  part  of  the 
cart  ? "  he  asked. 

"  Not  the  soldering  furnace  ? "  we  all  re- 
plied, in  unison. 

He  smiled  grimly,  and,  instead  of  replying, 
placed  it  before  us.  "  That  Deerfield  land- 
lord must  have  packed  it  up  without  your 
knowledge,"  said  Miss  Sartoris.  "  Its  reap- 
pearance is  becoming  really  amusing  ;  let  us 
make  one  grand  final  effort  to  get  rid  of  it  by 
sinking  it  in  the  middle  of  the  lake." 

"Will  you  do  it?" 

"  Certainly." 

Miss  Sartoris  took  the  furnace  and  ran 
down  to  the  lake,  whence  she  presently 
returned  empty-handed. 

"  Did  you  drown  the  creature  ?  " 

"  Not  exactly,  but  I  gave  an  ancient  fisher- 
man whom  I  found  there  a  quarter  to  com- 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY.  297 

mit  the  crime  for  me."  I  told  him  that  it 
was  something  which  we  were  tired  of,  and 
never  wished  to  see  again,  and  he  promised 
me,  in  rather  a  mixed  manner,  that  '  hu- 
man hand  should  never  find  hide  nor  hair 
of  it,  nor  human  eye  set  foot  on  it 
again.' " 

A  general  laugh  followed  this  announce- 
ment. How  should  we  know  that  the  man's 
suspicions  were  excited  by  Miss  Sartoris's 
anxiety  to  get  rid  of  the  object,  and  that  in- 
stead of  sinking  it  in  the  middle  of  "  the 
Bowl "  he  wrapped  it  carefully  in  brown 
paper,  and  labeling  it  "To  be  kept  till  called 
for,"  hid  it  under  the  bank  !  "  Somebody 
will  come  for  that  object,"  he  said  to  himself  ; 
"  shouldn't  wonder  if  it  was  wanted  at  court 
as  circumstantial  evidence  of  somethin'  or 
'nother." 

Another  event  occurred  while  we  were 
resting  at  "  the  Bowl."  Miss  Sartoris  re- 
marked that  a  view  which  she  had  obtained 
as  she  returned  from  the  lake  was  the  most 
enchanting  that  she  had  seen  on  the  trip. 
"  How  I  wish  that  I  had  time  to  sketch  it ! " 
she  said. 

"  I  will  photograph  it  for  you,"  Mr.  Still- 
man  exclaimed,  with  alacrity,  "if  you  will 


298  WITCH  WINNIE. 

kindly  show  me  just  where  you  would  like 
to  have  the  view  taken." 

They  walked  back  together,  a  turn  in  the 
road  hiding  them  from  our  view.  We  waited 

*j 

for  them  a  long  time,  and  at  length  father 
became  impatient  and  drove  on,  leaving  me 
to  hold  Mr.  Stillman's  horses.  When  they 
came  back  there  was  an  expression  on  their 
faces  which  told  everything.  I  should  have 
known  it  even  if  Mr.  Stillman  had  been  able 
to  keep  the  words  back,  but  he  was  too 
happy  to  be  silent.  "  You  were  lamenting, 
this  morning,"  he  said  to  me  as  he  took  the 
reins,  "  that  we  had  only  two  more  days  to 
journey  together." 

"  That  is  all,"  I  replied,  "  unless  Miss  Sar- 
toris  and  you  have  decided  to  make  a  longer 
trip." 

"Yes,"  he  replied,  "you  have  guessed  it 
exactly  :  Miss  Sartoris  has  just  consented  to 
journey  on  through  life  with  me." 

I  was  surprised,  and  yet,  when  I  came  to 
think  of  it,  I  saw  that  I  ought  to  have  sus- 
pected it  from  the  time  they  first  met;  and, 
all  things  considered,  they  were  admirably 
suited  to  each  other.  So  I  could  only  re- 
joice in  their  happiness,  though  I  wondered, 
a  little  selfishly,  what  Madame's  would  be 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY.  299 

without  Miss  Sartoris,  and  whether  I  should 
ever  have  a  teacher  whom  I  should  love  as 
well. 

When  we  caught  up  with  the  other  cart 
father  asked  whether  he  got  a  successful 
negative. 

"  No,"  replied  Mr.  Stillman,  "  I  didn't  get 
a  very  decided  negative,  and  I  confess  I 
didn't  want  one." 

There  was  a  look  of  blank  astonishment 
on  all  their  faces,  and  then  a  peal  of  laughter 
as  his  meaning  dawned  upon  them.  After 
the  storm  of  congratulations  and  exclama- 
tions had  ceased,  Miss  Sartoris  suddenly  ex- 
claimed, "  You  left  your  detective  camera  !" 

''That  is  so,"  Mr.  Stillman  replied,  "  Shall 
we  drive  back  after  it  ?" 

"Not  unless  you  want  to  catch  that 
shower,"  father  remarked,  pointing  to  a 
threatening  cloud. 

"  I'll  get  you  ladies  under  shelter  first,  and 
then  I  really  think  I  must  look  it  up,"  said 
Mr.  Stillman.  But  before  we  reached  Stock- 
bridge  we  met  a  coaching-party  conducted 
by  a  nattily  dressed  young  man  of  slender 
build,  who  managed  his  spirited  four-in-hand 
with  considerable  skill,  and  who  reined  them 
in  as  we  approached,  exclaiming,  "  Stillman  ! 


C>OO  WITCH  WINNIE. 

o 

by  all  that's  odd  !"  Mr.  Stillman  introduced 
the  gentleman  as  a  Mr.  Van  Silver,  an  old 
friend  from  the  city,  and  mutual  explana- 
tions followed.  He  was  now  on  his  way  to 
Lenox,  and  agreed  to  stop  at  the  spot  which 
Air.  Stillman  indicated,  and  if  he  could  find 
the  camera  express  it  to  Mr.  Stillman  at 
Scup  Harbor. 

Very  little  more  of  interest  to  the  reader 
occurred  until  we  reached  home.  We  fol- 
lowed the  Housatonic  for  the  greater  part 
of  our  way,  and  when  we  had  nearly  reached 
its  mouth,  drove  across  to  New  Haven,  from 
which  port,  having  completed  our  round- 
trip,  we  took  the  steamer  for  home.  Father 
found  a  letter  from  Mr.  Armstrong  in  rela- 
tion to  the  thieves  taken  in  Montague,  who 
were  proved  to  be  the  criminals  of  Rickett's 
Court,  whose  retribution  shall  be  related 
in  the  next  chapter.  The  little  boys  left  in 
mother's  care  had  conducted  themselves  in 
as  exemplary  a  manner  as  could  be  expected, 
there  having  been  no  cases  of  really  bad 
conduct,  and  only  two  slight  accidents. 

Miss  Prillwitz  took  them  under  her  wing 
and  left  with  them  for  the -Home,  all  looking 
happier,  browner,  and  rounder  for  their  stay 
in  the  country.  Winnie  regretted  that  our 


OVER  THE  HILLS  AND  FAR  AWAY.  ^OI 

\J 

scheme  for  filling  the  treasury  of  the  Home 
had  not  been  a  success,  since  the  aggregate 
of  money,  made  by  peddling  tinware  and 
rockets,  and  by  taking  tintypes,  did  not  meet 
the  expenses  of  the  trip.  Mr.  Stillman,  how- 
ever, insisted  on  presenting  the  institution 
with  a  handsome  check,  "  as  an  inadequate 
thank-offering,"  so  he  said,  for  the  great 
blessing  which  had  come  to  him  in  our 
journeying  "  over  the  hills  and  far  away." 

Miss  Sartoris  left  almost  immediately  for 
her  own  home,  and  Mr.  Stillman  followed 
her  soon  after.  Two  express  packages  came 
to  him  before  he  left  us.  One  was  the  bear- 
skin, handsomely  mounted,  the  other  was 
preceded  by  a  note  from  his  friend  Mr. 
Van  Silver,  which  said  that  he  had  over- 
taken a  venerable  fisherman  walking  off  with 
his  camera,  and  that  it  required  considerable 
persuasion  of  a  "  sterling  quality  "  to  rescue 
it  from  him.  Mr.  Stillman  opened  the  pack- 
age with  grateful  anticipation,  and  found — 
the  soldering  furnace ! 


CHAPTER  XV. 


THE    ESTATES    DEL    PARADISO. 

**  I  have  been  here  before, 

But  when,  or  how,  I  cannot  tell; 
I  know  the  grass  beyond  the  door, 

The  sweet,  keen  smell, 
The  sighing  sound,  the  lights  around  the  shore. 

You  have  been  mine  before,  « 

How  long  ago  I  may  not  know; 

But  just  when,  at  that  swallow's  soar, 
Your  neck  turned  so, 

Some  veil  did  fall — I  knew  it  all  of  yore." 

— Rossetti, 

E  must  now  return 
to  Mr.  Armstrong^ 
whom  we  left  in 
chapter  XII.  in 
conference  with 
Dr.  Carver  over 
the  Doctor's  ad- 
vertisement of  the 
case  of  lost  iden- 
tity inserted  i  n 
the  daily  papers 
ten  years  before. 
The  physician 
listened  gravely 
to  Mr.  A  r  m- 
strong's  account 

of  the  loss  of  his  wife  and  infant  son,  the  wild 

302 


THE  ESTATES  DEL  PARAD1SO.  303 

hopes  which  were  now  awakened,  and  to  his 
request  for  the  address  of  the  lady  referred 
to,  and  gave  him  a  pitying  glance  as  '  he 
replied: 

"  So  many  bereaved  persons  have  come 
to  me  fancying  that  they  recognized  a  loved 
one  in  that  notice,  only  to  be  cruelly  dis- 
appointed; and  Mrs.  Halsey  has  in  the  past 
been  subjected  to  so  many  trying  interviews 
of  this  description,  that  I  hesitate  to  encour- 
age your  visiting  her,  unless  you  have  posi- 
tive proof  of  what  you  hope.  A  photograph 
would  give  this  proof." 

"  And,  unfortunately,  I  have  none  of  Mrs. 
Armstrong." 

"  But  I  had  one  taken  of  Mrs.  Halsey, 
which  I  have  kept  in  the  hope  that  it  might 
be  identified  some  day;"  and  the  Doctor 
drew  from  his  pocket-book  a  thumbed  and 
discolored  photograph,  which  he  placed  in 
Mr.  Armstrong's  hand. 

The  effect  was  unmistakable.  The  strong 
man  rose  to  his  feet,  staggered,  and  fainted, 
for  he  had  recognized  his  wife.  The  physi- 
cian quickly  restored  him  to  consciousness, 
and  after  waiting  until  the  effect  of  the  shock 
had  partially  passed  away,  he  said  : 

"  I  see  that  there  is  no  danger  of  any  mis- 


304 


WITCH  WINNIE. 


take,  and  that  I  may  direct  you  where  to 
find  Mrs.  Halsey — I  beg  pardon,  Mrs.  Arm- 
strong. Her  address,  when  I  last  saw  her, 
was  No.  i  Rickett's  Court." 

"Rickett's  Court!"  exclaimed  Mr.  Arm- 
strong, in  horror. 

"  Yes,  sir  ;  it  is  not  the  best  quarter  of  the 
city,  but  many  of  the  respectable  poor  live 
there ;  and  you  must  remember,  sir,  that 
your  wife  must  necessarily  have  had  a  hard 
struggle  to  support  herself  and  your  little 
son,  alone  and  friendless,  in  this  great  city." 

Mr.  Armstrong  groaned  aloud.  Rickett's 
Court  had  not  seemed  so  bad  to  him  for 
other  men's  children  and  wives,  but  that  his 
child,  his  wife,  should  live  in  such  vile  sur- 
roundings was  horrible.  He  sprang  to  his 
feet,  seized  his  hat,  and  with  a  hasty  "  I  will 
see  you  again,  Doctor,"  hurried  in  the  same 
direction  which  Stephen  Trimble  had  taken 
not  a  half-hour  before.  It  was  only  a  short 
distance,  but  it  seemed  miles  to  him.  Just 
as  he  came  in  sight  of  the  building  every 
window  in  its  front  was  illuminated  with  a 
sudden  flash,  and  a  heavy  detonation  shook 
the  earth.  Then  smoke  poured  from  the 
broken  panes,  and  the  air  was  filled  with 
flying  splinters  and  debris,  while  shrieks 


THE  ESTATES  DEL  PARADTSO. 


305 


from  within,  and  shouts  of  "  Fire  !  fire  !  " 
from  without,  added  to  the  confusion. 

The  smoke  cleared  in  a  moment,  and  peo- 
ple were  seen  at  the  windows  dropping 
down  the  fire-escape.  Only  a  few  minutes 
later  a  fire  -  engine  came  tearing  around 
the  corner,  and  the  hoarse  voice  of  a  fireman 
was  heard  dominating  the  tumult  and  giving 
orders,  but  before  this  Alexander  Arm- 
strong, possessed  of  but  one  idea — that  his 
wife  and  child  were  somewhere  within — had 
rushed  into  the  burning  building.  One 
glance  showed  him  that  this  was  hopeless. 
The  staircase  had  been  torn  out  by  the  ex- 
plosion, and  the  flames  were  roaring  up  the 
space  which  it  had  occupied,  as  through  a 
chimney.  He  was  dragged  back  to  the 
court  by  the  fireman,  who  exclaimed,  "  Man 
alive !  can't  you  see  that  the  staircase  has 
gone,  and  that  they  are  coming  down  the 
fire-escape  ?  There  wouldn't  have  been  the 
ghost  of  a  chance  for  them  but  for  that. 
Bless  the  man  who  had  it  put  there  '" 

The  words  gave  him  a  little  heart,  and  he 
stood  at  the  foot,  helping  the  women  and 
catching  the  children  handed  to  him,  hop- 
ing in  vain  to  recognize  his  wife.  They 
stopped  coming.  "Are  all  out  ?"  he  shouted. 

20 


306  WITCH  WINNIE. 

"There's  some  one  in  the  fourth  story,"  said 
a  woman,  and  before  the  fireman  could  lay 
his  hand  on  the  fire-escape  Mr.  Armstrong 
was  half-way  up.  The  facade  still  stood, 
but  the  entire  interior  of  the  building  was  in 
flames,  and  blinding  smoke  and  scorching 
sparks  poured  from  the  windows.  At  the 
fourth  story  a  man  had  staggered  to  the 
window  and  lay  w*ith  his  arm  outside,  hold- 
ing on  to  the  sill.  Mr.  Armstrong  uttered  a 
cry  when  he  saw  that  it  was  a  man,  but,  none 
the  less,  he  lifted  him  tenderly  out,  and  into 
the  arms  of  the  fireman  following  close  behind 

o 

them.  Then  drawing  his  coat  over  his  mouth 
and  nostrils,  he  entered  the  room.  Another 
man  lay  at  a  little  distance,  or  a  body  that 
had  been  a  man,  terribly  torn  and  shattered 
by  the  explosion.  It  was  the  anarchist  who 
had  been  the  principal  in  the  plot ;  the  other 
had  escaped.  Mr.  Armstrong  descended, 
looking  into  every  apartment  as  he  came 
down  to  be  sure  no  living  thing  was  left  in- 
side that  furnace. 

"  You  are  a  hero,  sir !    will   you  give  me 

your  name  ?     I  represent "     It  was  the 

omnipresent  reporter  on  hand  for  an  item. 
Mr.  Armstrong  turned  from  him,  without  re- 
ply, to  the  man  wrhom  he  had  rescued,  Stephen 


THE  ESTATES  DEL  PARADISO  307 

Trimble,  who  lay  with  a  foot  torn  from 
the  ankle,  and  a  broken  arm.  A  hospital 
surgeon  knelt  at  his  side  bandaging  deftly. 
A  policeman  had  sent  the  call  when  Mr. 
Armstrong  started  up  the  fire-escape,  and 
the  ambulance,  a  more  conclusive  "  Evidence 
of  Christianity  "  than  that  dear  old  Dr.  Hop- 
kins or  any  other  theologian  ever  wrote; 
nobler  exponent  of  civilization  than  the  fire 
department  even,  since  that  is  the  rich  man's 
provision  for  saving  his  own  property,  while 
the  ambulance  is  the  rich  man's  provision 
for  saving  the  poor  man's  life — the  am- 
bulance, with  surgeon  on  the  back  seat  coolly 
feeling  for  his  instruments,  and  bare-headed 
driver  clanging  the  gong,  and  lashing  his  al- 
ready galloping  horses,  had  torn  like  mad 
down  Broadway.  And  as  it  came,  aristocratic 
carriages  hurrying  with  ladies  just  a  little  late 
for  a  grand  dinner,  and  an  expectant  bride- 
groom on  his  way  to  Grace  Church,  halted 
and  waited  for  it  to  pass  ;  express  and  tele- 
graph agents,  and  rushing  men  of  business, 
gave  it  the  right  of  way  as  it  bounded  on  its 
errand  of  mercy. 

Alexander  Armstrong  spoke  for  a  moment 
with  the  surgeon,  long  enough  to  learn  that 
Stephen  Trimble's  injuries  were  probably  not 


308  WITCH  WINNIE. 

mortal,  and  to  urge  every  attention  possible. 
Then  he  caught  sight  of  Solomon  Meyer 
bowing  and  cringing  at  a  little  distance,  and 
he  sprang  upon  him  like  a  panther  on  his 
prey.  Solomon,  greatly  surprised,  could  only 
imagine  that  the  loss  of  the  property  had 
driven  him  insane,  and  gasped,  "  Ze  insurance 
bolicy  is  all  right,"  whereat  the  ex-landlord 
gave  his  agent  such  a  shaking  that  his  teeth 
rattled  in  his  head,  only  pausing  to  inquire 
if  he  knew  anything  of  a  tenant  by  the  name 
of  Mrs.  Halsey.  Solomon  Meyer  assured 
him  that  Mrs.  Halsey  had  long  since  quitted 
the  building,  but  this  only  partially  reas- 
sured him,  for  he  placed  very  little  reliance 
on  the  man's  word.  His  wife,  almost  found, 
was  lost  to  him  again.  He  could  not  be- 
lieve that  she  perished  in  the  burning  build- 
ing ;  still,  there  was  this  horrible  possibility. 
There  was  no  one  to  tell  him  that  she 
had  just  gone  to  Narragansett  Pier  at  his 
daughter's  bidding,  and  was  occupying  the 
very  cottage  where  so  many  of  her  happier 
years  were  passed  ;  and  he  threw  himself 
more  unreservedly  into  his  business  projects, 
not,  however,  forgetting  the  poor  inventor 
at  the  hospital,  whom  he  visited  frequently, 
and  cared  for  as  tenderly  as  though  he  had 


THE  ESTA  TES  DEL  PARADISO. 


3°9 


been  his  brother.  After  the  excitement  of 
the  fire  was  over,  he  remembered  that  the 
law  had  an  account  to  settle  with  Solomon 
Meyer,  but  he  was  not  then  to  be  found.  His 
guilty  conscience  had  taken  the  alarm,  and 
the  subtle  magnetism  which  draws  bad 
people  together  had  caused  him  to  form  a 
partnership  with  the  anarchist  who  had 
escaped  the  explosion,  and  but  for  Miss 
Prillwitz's  timely  recognition  they  would 
have  fled  to  Canada.  Mr.  Armstrong  found 
them,  as  we  know,  in  the  Greenfield  jail,  and 
had  no  difficulty  in  identifying  them,  and 
in  having  them  brought  to  justice. 

As  the  time  approached  for  the  trial  of 
Solomon  Meyer  and  the  Russian  anarchist, 
Mr.  Armstrong  was  troubled  with  the  fear 
that  Stephen  Trimble  might  not  be  able  to 
testify  in  court.  He  visited  him  frequently 
at  the  hospital,  and  whenever  he  approached 
the  subject  of  his  dealings  with  the  anar- 
chists he  became  excited  and  confused. 

His  little  son,  Lovey  Dimple,  was  seated 
beside  him  during  one  of  Mr.  Armstrong's 
calls.  He  was  allowed  to  visit  his  father, 
and  waited  upon  him  day  by  day,  some- 
times telling  him  of  the  pleasant  times  he 
had  had  at  the  seashore,  and  at  others  watch- 


3IO  WITCH  WINNIE. 

ing  him  quietly.  His  presence  seemed  to  do 
his  father  good  ;  and  on  this  visit  Mr.  Arm- 
strong was  able  to  obtain  much  more  infor- 
mation from  Stephen  Trimble  than  upon  any 
previous  occasion. 

"  You  are  quite  sure,"  Mr.  Armstrong 
asked,  "that  you  never  saw  this  check,  which 
someone  has  cashed  at  the  bank,  and  which  is 
indorsed  with  your  name  ?  " 

"  Never,  never ! "  replied  the  wounded 
man. 

"  I  see  it,  though,"  Lovey  Dimple  spoke  up, 
promptly.  "Jim  had  come  down  to  the 
court  to  see  me,  and  I  wanted  to  show  him 
the  machine  in  the  Rooshans'  room,  and  we 
follered  him  in  there.  Mr.  Meyer  dropped  a 
piece  of  paper  which  looked  like  that,  and 
Jim  picked  it  up.  He  could  tell  you  what 
was  written  on  it." 

"  I  must  have  Jim  as  a  link  in  our  chain  of 
testimony,"  Mr.  Armstrong  replied.  "Is  he 
at  the  Home  of  the  Elder  Brother  ?  " 

"  No,  sir  ;  Jim  used  to  be  there,  but  he  had 
the  luck  to  be  adopted.  He  went  away  just 
for  to  be  a  tiger  for  some  swells,  and  they 
liked  him  so  much  they  permoted  him.  He's 
Jim  Roservelt  now." 

So  this  was  the  lad  of  whom  Adelaide  had 


THE  ESTA  TES  DEL  PAR  ADI  SO.  -\  I  I 

\J 

spoken  to  him.  Mr.  Armstrong  wrcte  to  his 
friend  Mr.  Roseveldt,  requesting  that  Jim 
should  be  sent  to  the  city.  His  testimony  at 
the  trial  was  so  clear  and  concise,  and  his 
entire  appearance  so  manly,  that  Mr.  Arm- 
strong was  greatly  drawn  to  him. 

"  If  my  own  boy  had  lived,"  he  said  to  Mr. 
Roseveldt,  who  had  come  to  the  city  with 
Jim,  "  he  would  have  been  about  the  age  of 
this  little  fellow.  I  am  about  to  make  a 
western  trip  of  six  or  seven  weeks,  and  would 
like  to  take  him  with  me.  Should  the  liking 
which  I  have  taken  to  him  grow  upon 
acquaintance,  I  beg  of  you  to  relinquish  him 
to  me  ;  I  need  him,  for  I  am  a  stricken  man, 
and  you  are  a  fortunate  one,  or  I  would  not 
ask  it." 

Mr.  Roseveldt  replied  that,  though  he  was 
fond  of  Jim,  he  would  willingly  give  him  up 
to  Mr.  Armstrong  for  adoption  after  his 
return  from  the  West,  provided  the  boy's 
mother  would  consent  to  the  transfer.  Singu- 
larly enough,  the  name  of  that  mother  was 
not  mentioned,  and  Mr.  Armstrong  took  Jim 
with  him  to  Colorado,  little  dreaming  that 
the  boy  was  his  own  son. 

He  had  said  that  he  needed  Jim ;  and  he 
needed  him  in  more  ways  than  he  knew.  He 


3  I  2  WITCH  WINNIE. 

had  grown  world-soiled,  as  well  as  world- 
weary,  and  the  companionship  of  a  soul 
white  and  young  was  destined  to  exert  upon 
him  a  purifying  as  well  as  rejuvenating 
influence.  Before  the  grand  mountain  scen- 
ery Jim's  fresh  enthusiasm  stimulated  Mr. 
Armstrong's  sated  admiration,  and  the  child's 
naive  ideas  of  right  and  wrong  were  a  rebuke 
to  the  man's  sophistries.  They  journeyed 
together  through  the  wild  and  beautiful 
canons  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  the  boy 
was  deeply  impressed  by  the  stupendous 
cliffs  rising  on  each  side — walls  that  were 
sometimes  two  thousand  feet  in  height,  and 
so  close  together  that  the  narrow  river,  which 
had  cut  its  way  down  from  the  surface,  some- 
times filled  the  entire  space  at  the  bottom  of 
the  gorge.  But  even  here  the  ingenuity  of 
man  had  surmounted  the  barriers  of  nature, 
and  the  observation-car  on  which  they  rode 
dashed  along  upon  a  shelf  cut  in  the  solid 
rock,  with  a  sheer  wall  on  one  hand,  and  a 
dizzy  precipice  on  the  other.  Such  a  canon 
was  the  Royal  Gorge  of  the  Arkansas  ;  in 
one  portion  an  iron  bridge  hangs  suspended 
from  strong  supports  fixed  in  the  solid  walls, 
and  the  train  glides  along  it,  swaying  as  in 
a  hammock,  over  the  brawling  river. 


THE  ESTA  TES  DEL  PARADISO.  313 

The  climax  of  their  tour  was  reached  in  the 
Black  Canon.  The  scenes  here  are  awful, 
even  in  broad  daylight,  for  the  sombre  crags 
tower  to  the  height  of  several  thousand  feet. 
Our  travelers  passed  through  the  chasm  at 
night.  Far  overhead  the  stars  were  shining 
in  the  little  rift  of  sky,  which  was  all  that 
they  could  see  between  the  walls  ;  and  in  the 
mysterious  half-lights  of  the  illumined  por- 
tions, and  the  utter  blackness  of  the  shadows, 
the  grotesque  shapes  of  the  crags  took  on 
strange  forms  and  awful  suggestions.  At 
times  it  seemed  as  if  the  train  was  about  to 
dash  itself  against  a  wall  of  solid  masonry, 
which  opened,  as  though  thrown  back  by 
genii,  as  they  approached.  At  one  point, 
catching  the  moonlight,  a  silvery  cascade 
swept  over  the  rocks  like  a  bow  of  crystal ; 
and  at  another,  a  mighty  monument  of  rosy 
stone,  the  Curricanti  Needle,  towered  far 
above  the  cliffs,  like  the  sky-piercing  spire  of 
some  grand  cathedral. 

"  The  people  who  live  here  must  be  very 
good,"  Jim  gasped,  as  they  emerged  from  the 
valley  of  enchantment,  "  one  is  so  much 
nearer  to  God  out  here !" 

"  Nobody  lives  in  the  canon  now,"  Mr. 
Armstrong  replied  ;  '*  Indians  lived  here  not 


314  WITCH  WINNIE. 

very  long  ago.  They  used  to  hold  their 
councils  on  that  shelf  of  rock  where  the 
pines  grow,  the  last  accessible  spot  on  the 
Curricanti  pinnacle,  but  the  settlers  in  the 
neighborhood  did  not  have  your  idea  about 
their  being  such  very  good  men,  and  as  the 
canon  was  the  best  pathway  through  the 
mountains  for  the  railroad,  they  were  driven 
out." 

"  I  am  sorry  for  the  Indians,"  Jim  said, 
simply.  "  If  I  had  owned  that  canon  I 
wouldn't  have  liked  to  have  given  it  up, 
would  you  ?" 

Mr.  Amstrong  evaded  the  question.  "You 
will  not  have  so  much  pity  for  them  when 
you  know  them  better,"  he  replied.  "  They 
are  a  low  lot,  and  if  they  do  not  know 
enough  to  improve  the  advantages  which 
they  possess,  it  is  only  fair  that  they  should 
be  appropriated  by  those  who  will  make  a 
better  use  of  them." 

Jim  did  not  quite  understand  what  Mr. 
Armstrong  meant  by  appropriating  the 
Indians'  advantages,  but  he  was  to  learn 
more  in  relation  to  that  word  before  the 
journey  was  over.  Returning  to  Denver, 
Mr.  Armstrong  took  the  boy  with  him  on  a 
tour  through  some  of  the  pueblos  of  New 


THE  ESTA  TES  DEL  PARADISO.  ->  I  c 

v7        \J 

Mexico.  The  word  "  pueblo"  signifies  town, 
and  the  Pueblo  Indians  are  those  who  build 
houses  instead  of  tents  and  wigwams,  and 
live  from  generation  to  generation  in  towns 
and  cities,  instead  of  wandering  about  the 
plains  and  mountains  like  the  other  tribes. 
There  are  twenty-six  of  these  communities 
in  New  Mexico,  and  some  of  the  cities  were 
old  when  the  Pilgrims  landed  at  Plymouth. 

When  New  Mexico  was  ceded  to  the 
United  States  by  Mexico,  the  right  of  the 
Pueblo  Indians  to  their  towns  and  to  certain 
tracts  of  land  surrounding  them  was  con- 
firmed by  treaty,  so  that  these  Indians  are 
better  off  in  many  ways  than  any  others. 
Mr.  Armstrong  had  a  special  reason  for  visit- 
ing the  Pueblos.  He  had  purchased  several 
large  herds  of  cattle,  and  wished  to  rent  land 
of  the  Indians  for  pasturage.  A  man  by  the 
name  of  Sanchez,  who  traded  among  the 
Pueblos,  could  speak  the  language,  and  had 
gained  the  confidence  of  the  Indians,  hap- 
pened to  be  on  the  train,  and  recognizing 
Mr.  Armstrong  as  a  wealthy  capitalist,  who 
had  large  interests  in  cattle,  as  well  as  in 
railroads,  at  once  guessed  pretty  nearly  the 
nature  of  his  errand  in  the  Indian  country. 

He  introduced  himself,  and,  learning  that 


3  1 6  WITCH  WINNIE. 

Mr.  Armstrong1  intended  to  visit  the  pueblo 
of  Taos,  to  witness  the  celebration  of  the 
Festival  of  San  Geronimo,  offered  his  services 
as  interpreter  and  courier.  These  Mr.  Arm- 
strong was  very  glad  to  accept,  for  he  had 
heard  of  the  man,  and  knew  that  he  had  con- 
siderable influence  among"  the  Indians. 
There  was  something  repellent,  however,  in 
his  insinuating,  cringing  manner  which  made 
one  feel  that  here  was  a  man  who  was  not  to 
be  trusted.  The  party  was  increased  by  an 
army  officer  and  a  Catholic  priest,  who  were 
also  going  to  Taos  to  witness  the  festival. 
The  pueblo  lies  at  a  distance  of  twenty  miles 
from  the  railroad  station,  but  an  Indian  was 
found  waiting  for  Mr.  Sanchez  with  a  rough 
wagon,  and  that  gentleman  invited  the 
others  to  ride  with  him.  They  crossed  the 
Rio  Grande  River  and  drove  along  beside  it 
in  a  northeasterly  direction,  through  a  not 
very  interesting  country.  The  coloring  was 
all  yellowish  brown — the  sandy  earth,  the 
crisp  parched  grass,  the  distant  hills,  even  the 
water  when  taken  from  the  turbid  river,  were 
all  of  a  like  monotonous  tint.  Now  and  then 
they  met  or  passed  an  Indian,  wrapped  in  a 
striped  blanket  and  mounted  on  a  small 
shaggy  pony.  Toward  evening  they  came 


THE  ESTA  TES  DEL  PARADISO. 

in  sight  of  the  pueblo.  The  first  view  was 
very  picturesque.  The  houses  of  adobe,  or 
sun-dried  brick,  were  built  in  ranges  one 
above  the  other,  like  a  great  stairway,  the 
roof  of  the  lower  house  serving  as  the  door- 
yard  for  the  one  above.  Ladders  were 
placed  against  the  walls,  and  up  and  down 
these,  nearly  naked  Indian  children  scram- 
bled like  young  monkeys.  They  parted  their 
long  elf-locks  with  their  hands,  and  stared  at 
the  strangers  with  wild,  black  eyes.  Mr. 
Sanchez  conducted  them  to  an  unoccupied 
house,  which  he  said  would  be  at  their  ser- 
vice during  the  festival  for  quite  a  good 
sum.  There  was  no  hotel,  and  this  seemed 
the  best  thing  to  be  done.  It  had  evidently 
been  suddenly  cleared  for  the  unexpected 
guests,  and  some  of  the  utensils  and  furni- 
ture remained.  The  priest  pointed  out  with 
pleasure  a  gaudy  print  of  the  Virgin.  There 
were  strings  of  red  peppers  drying  on  the 
outer  wall,  and  a  great  olha,  or  decorated 
water-pot,  within,  but  there  was  no  bedding 
or  food.  The  gentlemen,  however,  had  each 
brought  with  them  army  blankets,  and  Mr. 
Sanchez  offered  to  act  as  their  commissary 
and  skirmish  for  provisions.  He  presently 
returned,  followed  by  a  woman  carrying  a 


318  WITCH  WINNIE. 

bowl  of  stewed  beef  and  onions,  and  a  boy 
driving  a  donkey,  whose  panniers  were  filled 
with  melons.  This,  with  some  coffee,  which 
the  officer  made  over  a  spirit-lamp,  and  some 
crackers  contributed  by  Mr.  Armstrong, 
constituted  their  supper,  which  hunger  made 
palatable. 

After  this  refreshment  they  mounted  to 
their  roof  and  watched  the  preparations  for 
the  festivities  of  the  next  day.  Mr.  Sanchez 
pointed  out  the  entrance  to  the  estufa,  or 
underground  council-chamber,  into  which 
the  young  men  of  the  tribe  were  disappear- 
ing for  the  celebration  of  mysterious  pagan 
rites. 

"  I  thought  the  Pueblos  were  Roman 
Catholics,"  Mr.  Armstrong  remarked. 

The  Catholic  priest  shook  his  head  sadly. 
"  Our  converts  have  always  remained  half 
pagan,"  he  said ;  "  the  early  missionaries 
were  content  to  engraft  as  much  Christianity 
as  they  could  on  the  old  customs,  thinking 
that  the  better  faith  would  gradually  sup- 
plant the  old,  but  the  old  rites  and  cere- 
monies have  remained.  Still  we  must  hesi- 
tate to  say  that  the  Fathers  did  wrong,  since 
it  was  the  only  way  to  win  the  savages  to 
the  holy  faith." 


THE  ESTA  TES  DEL  PARADISO.  £  1 9 

The  priest  strolled  away  to  visit  the  church 
and  to  find  a  Mexican  brother  who  was  to 
celebrate  Mass  on  the  next  day.  The  church 
was  a  ruinous  building  which  stood  apart 
from  the  others.  The  army  officer  told  of 
the  siege  which  it  sustained  during  the 
Mexican  War,  and  pointed  to  the  indenta- 
tions made  in  its  walls  by  cannon-balls. 

The  situation  was  such  a  strange  one  that 
Jim  slept  but  little.  All  night  long  he  could 
hear  the  dull  beat  of  the  tom-toms  in  the 
estufa,  and  as  soon  as  the  first  streak  of 
dawn  illumined  the  sky  the  pueblo  was 
awake  and  all  excitement.  Indians  from 
neighboring  towns  poured  in,  some  on  foot, 
and  others  mounted  on  ponies  or  donkeys. 

In  the  plaza  stood  a  great  pole  resem- 
bling a  flag-staff,  but  instead  of  a  banner 
there  dangled  from  the  top  a  live  sheep 
and  a  basket  of  bread  and  grain,  with  a  gar- 
land of  fruits  and  vegetables.  The  church 
bell  was  clanging  for  Mass,  and  Jim  fol- 
lowed the  others.  An  old  Mexican  priest  was 
the  celebrant,  and  a  few  young  Indians  in  red 
cotton  petticoats  and  coarse  lace  overskirts 
waited  upon  him  awkwardly  as  altar-boys. 
When  the  Host  was  elevated,  an  Indian  at 
the  door  beat  the  tom-tom,  and  four  musket- 


320  WITCH  WINNIE 

shots  were  fired.  The  priest  then  marched 
down  the  centre  of  the  church,  followed  by 
the  altar-boys,  one  of  whom  bore  a  hideous 
painting",  which  Mr.  Sanchez  assured  them 
was  painted  in  Spain  by  the  great  Murillo, 
and  might  be  had,  through  him,  for  a  trifling 
sum.  The  congregation  joined  in  the  pro- 
cession and  followed  to  the  race-track,  where 
games,  races,  and  dances  were  participated 
in  by  fifty  young  men  of  Taos  against 
fifty  from  other  pueblos.  The  sports  were 
witnessed  by  fully  two  thousand  spectators, 
who  swarmed  along  the  terraces,  and  formed 
a  packed  mass  of  men,  women,  children, 
horses,  and  donkeys  around  the  race-track. 
There  was  a  group  of  visitors  standing  near 
our  travelers,  who  regarded  the  races  with 
intense  interest.  It  consisted  of  an  old  man 
dressed  in  white  linen  blouse  and  trousers, 
with  a  red  handkerchief  knotted  about  his 
gray  locks,  an  obese  and  not  over  cleanly 
old  lady  in  full  Indian  toggery,  and  a  young 
girl  in  a  pink  calico  dress,  with  a  black  shawl 
over  her  head  and  shoulders.  They  watched 
one  of  the  runners  with  the  most  intense 
excitement,  and  when  he  came  off  victor 
in  several  of  the  contests,  their  enthusiasm 
knew  no  bounds.  "  That  old  man  is  the  Gov- 


THE  ESTATES  DEL  PARADISO. 


321 


ernor  of  the  pueblo  of ,"  said  Mr.  Sanchez. 

"  It  is  his  son  who  has  just  stepped  out  to 
lead  the  corn-dance.  The  daughter,  little 
Rosaria,  is  pretty,  is  she  not?"  He  ap- 
proached her  as  he  spoke,  with  easy  assur- 
ance, and  taking  her  by  the  chin,  made  some 
remarks  in  the  Pueblo  language  intended  to 
be  complimentary  ;  but  the  girl  twisted  her- 
self from  his  grasp  with  hot  indignation  ;  and 
Sanchez  returned,  grumbling  that  since  she 
had  been  to  the  Ramona  School  at  Santa  Fe 
she  was  too  much  of  a  lady  to  speak  to  any- 
one. Jim  was  standing  beside  her;  and  sure, 
from  her  manner,  that  she  understood  Eng- 
lish, he  asked  her  to  explain  the  corn-dance 
to  him.  She  did  so,  very  kindly,  and  the 
hunt  -  dance  which  followed,  when  the 
painted  clowns  brought  out  grotesque  clay 
images,  and  after  adoring  them  fired  at  them, 
and  shattered  them  in  fragments,  the  crowd 
scrambling  for  the  pieces.  The  young  man 
who  had  been  pointed  out  as  the  Governor's 
son 'secured  a  piece,  and  brought  it  to  the 
girl  in  triumph.  "  That  is  the  ear  of  a  wolf," 
she  said.  "  It  means  that  he  will  have  suc- 
cess in  the  south  ;  we,  who  have  been 
taught  better,  do  not  believe  these  old 
charms  any  more." 


21 


T.22  WITCH  WINNIE. 

\J 

The  last  thing  on  the  programme  was 
the  climbing  of  the  pole  for  the  sheep, 
which  was  finally  won  by  a  young  brave  of 
Taos. 

There  was  racing  on  ponies  afterward  by 
young  Indians  and  Mexicans,  but  this  was 
informal,  and  not  included  in  the  rites  of 
the  day.  The  young  girl  looked  at  the  races 
enviously.  "  My  brother  ought  to  win 
there,"  she  said,  "for  we  had  the  swiftest 
ponies  of  any  of  the  Pueblos,  and  ought  to 
have  them,  for  our  pasture  lands  are  the 
best,  but  we  have  sold  nearly  all  our  live- 
stock, and  the  pastures  are  no  longer  of  any 
use  to  us." 

Mr.  Armstrong  overheard  this  remark, 
and  asked  Rosaria  if  her  people  would  be 
willing  to  rent  their  lands.  She  conferred 
with  her  father  in  the  Pueblo  language, 
and  Mr.  Sanchez  immediately  joined  in  the 
conversation,  talking  volubly  to  the  old  man, 
and  translating  to  Mr.  Armstrong.  "  He 
says  you  are  welcome  to  return  to  his  pueblo 
with  him,"  explained  Mr.  Sanchez,  "  and  he 
will  call  a  council  of  his  townspeople  to 
deliberate  on  your  proposition." 

There  was  more  conversation,  and  it  was 
decided  to  accept  the  Governor's  invitation. 


THE  ESTA  TES  DEL  PARADISO. 


323 


Mr,  Armstrong'  engaging  Mr.  Sanchez  to  go 
with  them  and  help  him  in  the  transaction. 
This  seemed  to  him  the  only  thing  which  he 
could  do,  since  he  did  not  understand  the 
language,  and  the  Governor  seemed  to  place 
confidence  in  the  trader.  The  party  set  out 

the  next  morning1  for  San      • — ,  Mr. 

Armstrong  and  Jim  in  Mr.  Sanchez's  wagon, 
and  the  Governor  and  his  children  following 
on  diminutive  donkeys.  Several  days  elap- 
sed before  the  bargain  could  be  made.  The 
Indians  were  very  suspicious  of  being 
entrapped  into  some  fraud,  and  it  needed 
all  of  Mr.  Sanchez's  eloquence  to  per- 
suade them  that  the  arrangement  would 
be  to  their  advantage.  Mr.  Armstrong 
had  told  Mr.  Sanchez  that  he  was  will- 
ing to  pay  fifteen  hundred  dollars  for  the 
rental  of  the  land  for  three  years,  and  that 
he  (Sanchez)  might  deduct  his  fee  for  ser- 
vices from  this  sum.  "  Then  if  I  can  per- 
suade them  to  let  you  have  the  land  for 
twelve  hundred,''  asked  Mr.  Sanchez,  "  I  may 
claim  three  hundred  for  my  assistance  in  the 
matter?" 

"  That  is  a  pretty  round  fee,"  replied  Mr. 
Armstrong,  "  but  it  does  not  matter  to  me 
who  has  the  money.  The  land  is  worth  fif- 


324  WITCH  WINNIE. 

teen  hundred  dollars  to  me,  and  if  you  can 
persuade  the  Indians  to  take  less,  so  much 
the  better  for  you." 

Jim  was  much  interested  in  the  negotia- 
tions. He  sat  beside  Mr.  Armstrong1  in  the 
council-chamber,  trying  to  make  out  from 
the  expressive  gestures  what  it  was  that  the 
Indians  were  saying,  and  sometimes  it  seem- 
ed to  him  that  Mr.  Sanchez  did  not  translate 
correctly.  At  such  times  he  went  out  to 
where  Rosaria  stood  by  the  open  door  list- 
ening, with  other  children.  She  translated 
for  him  the  treaty  as  Mr.  Sanchez  read  it, 
and  he  was  astonished  to  find  that  it  offered 
the  Indians  only  three  hundred  dollars  as 
rent  for  their  land,  the  wily  Sanchez  having 
reserved  twelve  hundred  as  his  own  share. 

"  But  Mr.  Armstrong  is  willing  to  pay  your 
people  fifteen  hundred,"  Jim  protested  to 
Rosaria,  and  the  girl  slipped  into  the  coun- 
cil-chamber just  as  the  Governor  was  about 
to  sign  the  paper,  and  snatched  it  from  his 
hand. 

"  Is  it  true,"  she  asked  of  Mr.  Armstrong, 
"  that  you  are  willing  to  pay  more  for  our 
land  ?  Mr.  Sanchez  offers  us  but  three 
hundred  dollars !" 

Mr.    Armstrong,  surprised   at   the   man's 


THE  ESTATES  DEL  PARADISO 


'325 


effrontery,  acknowledged  that  he  was  ready 
to  pay  more,  while  Sanchez,  furious  at 
seeing  his  opportunity  slipping  from  him, 
poured  upon  Rosaria  all  manner  of  abuse, 
and  threatened  Mr.  Armstrong  that  unless 
he  held  to  his  bargain  to  allow  him  what- 
ever margin  he  could  make  he  would  spoil 
the  trade  for  him. 

"  Here's  a  pretty  affair !  "  said  Mr.  Arm- 
strong to  Jim.  "  You  had  better  have  kept 
quiet  and  let  the  old  swindler  feather  his. 
nest.  Now  I  fear  that  I  shall  not  be  able 
to  make  any  bargain  with  the  Indians." 

"  But  it  was  not  right,  was  it,"  asked  Jim, 
"  that  the  Indians  should  have  so  little  and 
Mr.  Sanchez  so  much?" 

''The  proportion  does  seem  unfair,"  Mr. 
Armstrong  admitted  to  Jim;  but  he  added,  to 
Sanchez,  "  I  hold  to  my  part  of  the  bargain. 
I  will  give  you  whatever  margin  you  can 
make  between  their  demands  and  fifteen 
hundred  dollars." 

Sanchez  attempted  to  regain  his  lost  ad- 
vantage, but  all  this  time  Rosaria  had  been 
talking  excitedly,  explaining  to  one  after 
another  of  the  Indians,  now  pointing  to  the 
figures  in  the  treaty,  now  scornfully  at  San- 
chez, arguing,  entreating,  scolding,  and  when 


^•26  WITCH  WINNIE. 

\J 

the  trader  began  his  defense  of  her  charges, 
laughing  him  to  scorn.  The  Governor  put 
an  end  to  the  altercation  by  tearing  the 
treaty  in  pieces  and  ordering  two  stout 
Indians  to  lead  Sanchez  from  the  room.  He 
then  bade  Rosaria  tell  Mr.  Armstrong  that 
fifteen  hundred  dollars  was  the  very  least 
that  they  were  willing  to  take  for  their  land. 
Mr.  Armstrong  bowed,  and  replied  that  he 
would  think  over  the  matter.  He  expected 
to  have  an  opportunity  to  discuss  it  with  his 
agent,  but  when  he  left  the  council-chamber 
he  saw  his  wagon  on  the  road  to  Sante  Fe, 
at  a  long  distance  from  the  pueblo,  and  was 
handed  the  label  from  a  peach  can,  on  the 
back  of  which  was  scribbled  : 

"  That  boy  of  yours  is  too  smart  to  live; 
the  plaguey  Indians  have  given  me  an  hour 
to  leave  their  reservation.  Manage  your 
own  concerns  without  the  help  of — 

Sanchez." 

The  bargain  was  accordingly  struck  with- 
out the  aid  of  a  middle-man,  and  Mr.  Arm- 
strong was  conceded  the  right  to  pasture  his 
cattle  for  three  years  in  consideration  of  the 
sum  of  five  hundred  dollars,  to  be  paid  in 
advance  at  the  beginning  of  each  season. 


THE  ESTA  TES  DEL  PARADISO.  327 

Mr.  Armstrong  was  much  amused.  "  It  has 
turned  out  all  right,"  he  said  to  Jim,  "  but 
you  must  acknowledge  that  it  was  really 
none  of  your  business,  and  I  would  advise 
you,  in  future,  not  to  meddle  in  matters  which 
do  not  concern  you." 

"  I  will  try,"  Jim  replied,  much  abashed. 
"  I  ought  to  have  told  you  instead  of  Rosaria, 
and  you  would  have  fixed  it  all  right,"  he 
added,  cheerfully.  "I  ought  to  have  known 
that  you  wouldn't  have  let  the  Indians  be 
cheated." 

Mr.  Armstrong  felt  the  reproach  in  the 
undeserved  confidence.  Here  was  a  com- 
panion who  was  a  sort  of  embodied  con- 
science. It  was  not  always  profitable  to  have 
a  conscience  in  business,  and  yet  there  was 
something  satisfactory  and  refreshing  in  the 
way  in  which  this  affair  had  terminated. 
"  They  say  '  honesty  is  the  best  policy,' "  he 
said  to  himself  ;  "  I  wonder  if  this  little  fellow 
would  not  be  a  Mascot  to  bring  me  good 
luck.  I  have  a  notion  to  make  him  my 
partner  in  some  of  my  risky  ventures  ;  Provi- 
dence seems  to  smile  upon  him  and  his 
principles ;  perhaps  if  I  make  my  good-fort- 
une his  as  well,  it  will  smile  upon  me." 
What  he  said  to  Jim  was  this  :  "  You  seem 


328  WITCH  WINNIE. 

fond  of  a  wild  western  life,  Jim,  and  of  the 
Indians.  Our  business  among1  the  Pueblos 
is  ended.  We  are  going  back  to  Colorado. 
I  have  a  notion  to  show  you  what  the  Colo- 
rado Indians  are  like.  They  are  Utes,  and 
they  do  not  live  in  houses,  like  the  Pueblos, 
but  rove  about  in  a  perfectly  savage  man- 
ner; they  are  not  peaceful  and  industrious, 
like  the  Pueblos,  but  lazy  and  ugly.  I  do 
not  think  that  they  are  susceptible  of  civili- 
zation. I  would  as  soon  think  of  educating 
a  coyote  as  a  Ute. 

"Now  the  Utes  possess  some  of  the  best 
mining  lands  in  Colorado,  but  will  never 
develop  them  ;  so  it  seems  to  me  better  that 
they  should  be  removed  to  the  desert  lands, 
which  are  worthless  for  purposes  of  civiliza- 
tion, and  let  the  whites  have  their  opportunity. 
I  have  my  eye  on  a  gulch  which  I  discovered 
while  hunting  in  the  San  Juan  Mountains 
four  years  ago,  and  which  I  mean  to  pre-empt 
just  as  soon  as  we  get  the  Utes  to  give  up 
their  present  reservation  and  pack  off  to 
Utah.  We  shall  go  back  that  way,  and  I  will 
show  you  the  spot." 

Jim  opened  his  eyes  very  wide.  He  did 
not  quite  comprehend  what  Mr.  Armstrong 
had  said.  Surely  he  could  not  mean  to  de- 


THE  ES  TA  TES  DEL  PARADISO.  329 

fraud  the  Indians  in  any  way  !  He  would 
doubtless  pay  them  the  worth  of  their  mine, 
and  if  they  liked  the  ready  money  better 
than  the  trouble  of  mining  the  silver  for 
themselves  it  would  be  all  fair. 

At  Antonito  Mr.  Armstrong  left  the  rail- 
road, provided  himself  with  a  span  of  horses, 
a  wagon,  camping  outfit,  and  a  brace  of 
greyhounds,  and  struck  out  through  the  Ute 
reservation  for  the  mountains.  He  told 
some  gentleman  whom  he  met  at  Antonito 
that  he  proposed  to  enjoy  a  little  coursing 
for  antelope;  but  there  was  a  set  of  survey- 
ors' instruments  in  the  wagon,  which  proved 
that  he  intended  to  locate  the  mine  which 
he  had  come  across  during  his  previous  visit. 
His  acquaintance  attempted  to  discourage 
his  making  the  trip  alone,  saying  that  the 
Utes  had  been  restless  of  late,  owing  to  a 
failure  in  receiving  their  supplies  from  Gov- 
ernment, and  it  was  hardly  safe  to  approach 
their  reservation.. 

"  You  need  not  be  afraid  of  the  Utes," 
another  gentleman  replied.  "  I  knew  their 
old  chief,  Ouray,  and  was  entertained  once 
in  his  house — a  neater  farm-house  than  many 
a  white  settler  can  show,  and  I  was  hospitably 
waited  upon  by  his  wife,  Chipeta,  who  gave 


330  WITCH  WINNIE. 

me  peaches  from  their  own  orchard,  and 
saleratus  biscuit,  and  when  I  saw  the  familiar 
yellow  streaks  in  them,  and  tasted  the  old 
chief's  whisky,  I  had  to  confess  that  the  Indian 
was  capable  of  civilization." 

Mr.  Armstrong  laughed,  but  the  first 
speaker  bade  him  be  careful,  for  all  the  Utes 
were  not  like  Ouray,  who  had  so  well  earned 
his  title  of  the  White  Man's  Friend. 

"Now,"  exclaimed  Mr.  Armstrong,  after 
he  had  driven  out  of  sight  of  the  last  human 
habitation — l<  now  at  last  we  can  breathe ! 
What  do  you  think  of  it,  Jim  ?  " 

"  I  didn't  know  the  world  was  so  big,"  the 
boy  replied  ;  "  these  must  be  the  Estates 
del  Paradiso  which  Miss  Prillwitz  talks 
about.  Why,  there's  room  for  all  New 
York  to  spread  itself  out,  and  every  child  to 
have  a  yard  to  play  in.  It  seems  a  little  bit 
lonely,"  he  added,  after  a  pause.  "  I  should 
think  you  would  have  liked  to  have  had  some 
of  those  gentlemen  go  with  you." 

"Why,  you  see,  Jim,"  Mr.  Armstrong  re- 
plied, "  I  am  going  to  hunt  up  that  silver  mine, 
and  I  had  a  little  rather  not  share  the  secret 
with  any  one  but  you.  Besides,  I  like  the 
loneliness.  I  grow  very  tired  of  people 
sometimes,  Jim,  and  it  seems  good  to 


THE  ESTA  TES  DEL  PARADISO.  -^  i 

\j  O 

get    away    from    them.      Don't    you    ever 
feel  so  ?  " 

"  Mother  did,"  Jim  said.  "  She  likes  help- 
ing at  the  Home  very  much,  but  she  got  a 
little  tired  just  before  the  young  ladies  sent 
for  her  to  go  to  the  seashore,  and  she  came 
across  one  verse  in  the  Bible  which  sounded 
so  beautiful.  It  was,  '  Come  ye  yourselves 
apart  into  a  desert  place  and  rest  awhile,  for 
there  were  many  coming  and  going,  and  they 
had  no  leisure  so  much  as  to  eat.' " 

"  I  didn't  know  they  had  such  hurrying 
times  down  in  Galilee,"  Mr.  Armstrong 
replied,  lightly.  He  was  in  good  spirits,  and 
they  drove  a  long  distance  that  day,  camp- 
ing at  night  by  a  small  stream,  in  which  he 
caught  some  fine  trout.  As  Jim  curled  up 
close  to  him  under  the  army  blanket,  Mr. 
Armstrong  felt  a  slight'  tremor  run  through 
the  boy's  frame. 

"  What  is  the  matter  ?  "  he  asked.  "  Are 
you  afraid  ?  We  are  still  miles  away  from 
the  Indians." 

"  It  isn't  the  Indians,"  Jim  replied,  "  but  it's 
all  so  still !  I  don't  hear  horse-cars,  nor  the 
Elevated,  nor  people  passing,  nor  nothing. 
Down  at  the  Pier  it  was  something  like  this, 
but  there  was  always  the  sea ;  and  at  the 


232  WITCH  WJNN1E. 

pueblo  there  were  the  dogs;  while  here  it 
seems  as  if  something  had  stopped." 

"  '  All  the  roaring  looms  of  time/ "  Mr. 
Armstrong  replied,  quoting  from  Tennyson, 
"have  stopped  for  a  little  while  for  us,  my 
boy,  and  that's  the  beauty  of  it.  But  the  old 
machines  will  have  us  in  their  grip  again 
very  soon." 

The  next  day  Mr.  Armstrong  enjoyed  a 
rabbit  hunt.  Jim,  though  he  took  part  in 
the  sport,  could  hardly  be  said  to  enjoy  it. 
"  It  seems  such  a  pity  to  kill  the  pretty 
things  !"  he  said.  But  this  did  not  keep  him 
from  making  a  hearty  meal  of  broiled  labbit, 
or  from  hoping  that  they  might  find  antelope 
before  the  trip  was  over.  The  loneliness 
which  he  had  felt  the  niofht  before  came  on 

+j 

again  toward  evening,  and  Jim  was  not  sorry, 
on  their  third  day  out,  to  see  that  they  were 
approaching  a  new  frame  house. 

"  An  old  half-breed  guide  used  to  have  a 
tepee  here,"  said  Mr.  Armstrong;  "  I  shall 
engage  his.  services  for  our  trip.  He  is  a 
good  cook,  a  good  hunter,  faithful  to  his 
employers,  and  he  knows  every  rock  and 
clump  of  sage-brush  in  all  the  region.  His 
only  fault  is  that  he  will  get  drunk.  He 
was  with  me  when  I  found  the  silver  ore, 


THE  ESTA TES  DEL  PARADISO.  *'>'> 

\J  \J  \J 

and  I  need  him  to  guide  me  to  the  spot 
again." 

As  they  came  nearer,  Mr.-  Armstrong 
seemed  greatly  surprised  to  see  a  large  field 
of  waving  corn  in  front  of  the  house,  while 
some  cows  were  being  driven  toward  an 
out-building  by  a  young  Indian  in  checked 
shirt  and  brown  overalls. 

"  What  can  have  come  over  old  Charley  !  " 
exclaimed  Mr.  Armstrong.  "  When  I  was 
here  before,  nothing  would  induce  him  to 
degrade  himself  by  farm  labor.  Some  boomer 
must  have  established  himself  here.  It's 
illegal,  for  the  land  still  belongs  to  the 
Indians." 

They  drove  up  to  the  front  door,  and  were 
met  by  the  same  young  man  whom  they  had 
seen  driving  the  cows,  but  the  overalls  were 
replaced  by  a  faded  pair  of  army  trousers, 
and  a  paper  collar  had  been  hastily  added 
to  the  checked  shirt.  He  bade  them  enter, 
in  good  English,  and  the  interior  of  the  house 
was  clean  and  inviting.  The  walls  were 
papered  with  newspapers,  a  bright  patch- 
work quilt  was  spread  upon  the  bed,  and  a 
pleasant-faced  girl  was  frying  ham  and  eggs 
over  the  stove;  while  there  was  a  shelf  of 
books  over  the  table.  An  Indian  woman 


334  WITCH  WINNIE. 

emerged  from  a  shadowy  corner  and  express- 
ed a  welcome  by  pantomine. 

"  Is  not  this  Charley's  wife  ? "  Mr.  Arm- 
strong asked,  and  the  woman  smiled  and 
nodded  her  recognition. 

"Where  is  your  husband?  "was  the  next 
question.  "  Charley  no  good,"  was  the  wife's 
frank  reply  ;  "  gone  hunting  with  white  men." 

This  was  a  disappointment  that  Mr.  Arm- 
strong had  not  anticipated  ;  he  was  not  sure 
that  he  could  find  his  way  to  the  silver  mine 
without  Charley's  help,  but  it  was  worth  try- 
ing. The  odor  of  the  frying  ham  was  appe- 
tizing, and  the  invitation  to  supper  was 
promptly  accepted. 

"Are  you  Charley's  son?"  Mr.  Armstrong 
asked  of  the  young  man,  who  presently 
brought  in  a  foaming  pail  of  milk,  and 
assisted  his  mother  and  sister  in  waiting  on 
their  guests. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  was  the  prompt  reply,  "  and  my 
name  is  Charley  too — Charles  Sumner." 

Mr.  Armstrong  stared  in  astonishment. 
"  Where  did  you  learn  to  speak  English  so 
well  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  At  the  Indian  Industrial  School  at  Car- 
lisle, Pennsylvania." 

"  Then  you  are  one  of  Captain  Pratt's  boys  ?" 


THE  ESTATES  DEL  PARADISO.  335 

"Yes,  sir,"  and  a  smile  lightened  the 
somewhat  stolid  features.  Mr.  Armstrong 
did  not  believe  in  Eastern  schools  for 
Indians,  and  he  asked,  rather  sarcastically, 
"  And  what  did  you  learn  when  you  were 
in  the  East — Latin  and  Theology  ?  " 

The  boy  shook  his  head.  "  I  learned  to 
work  on  the  farm,"  he  said,  "  and  to  read 
and  write,  and  do  a  little  arithmetic;  and  I 
learned  some  carpentry — enough  to  build 
this  house,  and  make  that  table,  and  the 
cupboard  and  things." 

"  Very  creditable,  I  am  sure,"  Mr.  Arm- 
strong replied,  half  incredulously,  "  but  how 
did  you  come  into  the  fortune  necessary  to 
set  you  up  in  this  flourishing  style  ?  " 

"  I  helped  build  the  new  depot  at  S , 

and  they  paid  me  off  with  the  lumber  that 
was  left,  and  I  built  the  house  out  of  that. 
Then  I  had  some  money  which  I  had  put  in 
the  savings-bank  from  my  earnings  every 
vacation  in  the  East,  and  I  bought  the  cows 
with  that  ;  and  then  I  made  a  churn,  and 
we've  been  making  butter  the  way  I  saw 
them  do  it  in  Pennsylvania,  and  I  sell  it  for 
a  good  price  at  the  Springs." 

"  Well,  you  have  more  stuff  in  you  than  I 
ever  thought  it  possible  for  an  Indian  to 


336  WITCH  WINNIE. 

have,"  Mr.  Armstrong1  replied,  fairly  won,  in 
spite  of  himself,  to  admiration.  "  I  always 
supposed  that  those  Carlisle  students,  as  soon 
as  they  returned  to  old  surroundings,  went 
back  to  savagery." 

"  It  is  pretty  hard  for  us,"  the  boy  replied. 
"  Last  year  I  planted  about  three  times  as 
much  corn  as  you  see  here.  I  had  taken  a 
contract  to  supply  the  quartermaster  at  Fort 

,  and  I  thought  I  should  make  a  good 

deal  of  money  ;  but  just  as  it  was  green,  all 
of  our  relations  came  to  see  us.  There  were 
ten  families.  They  camped  there  by  the 
creek,  and  they  stayed  until  they  had  eaten 
every  roasting  ear.  They  said  they  had  come 
to  celebrate  my  home-coming,  and  father 
made  them  welcome,  and  gave  a  dance,  and 
killed  one  of  our  cows  for  them.  They  would 
have  killed  them  all,  but  I  drove  them  off 
into  the  mountains,  and  hid  them.  That  is 
the  reason  I  have  planted  so  little  corn  here 
this  season.  I  have  another  field  over  in  a 
little  valley  in  the  mountains  which  I  hope 
they  will  not  find,  and  I  drive  the  cattle  up 
the  canon  every  morning,  for  they  may  be 
here  any  day." 

"  You  poor  fellow  !"  said  Mr.  Armstrong. 
"  I  have  heard  the  proverb,  '  Save  us  from 


THE  ESTA  TES  DEL  PARADISO. 


337 


our  friends  !'  but  I  never  understood  the  full 
force  of  it  before." 

After  the  hearty  meal  the  little  house  was 
put  at  the  service  of  the  travelers,  the  fam- 
ily camping  outside,  and,  much  to  Mr.  Arm- 
strong's contentment,  they  passed  a  com- 
fortable and  restful  night.  The  next  morn- 
ing Mr.  Armstrong  asked  Charles  Sumner  if 
he  was  familiar  with  the  mountains,  and 
could  guide  him  to  a  certain  valley,  which  he 
indicated  as  having  a  chimney-like  forma- 
tion at  one  end. 

"  Why,  certainly,"  the  young  man  replied  ; 
"  don't  you  remember  I  was  with  father 
when  he  took  you  hunting  four  years  ago  ? 
He  killed  an  eagle  that  had  her  nest  on  a 
ledge  high  up  on  the  chimney,  and  I  climbed 
up  for  the  young  ones." 

"  Ah  yes,  I  remember  now,  but  you  were 
such  a  little  fellow  then  that  I  could  not 
realize  the  change." 

& 

"  I  grew  more  at  Carlisle,"  said  the  young 
man,  significantly,  than  at  any  other  time  of 
my  life.  We  all  grew  at  Carlisle." 

"Then  you  will  take  us  to  the  chimney," 
Mr.  Armstrong  asked,  "  and  cook  for  us 
while  we  are  out  ?  What  will  you  charge  ?  " 

"  I   don't   think  I  ought  to  ask    you  any- 


338  WITCH  WINNIE. 

thing1,  sir,  for  there  is  good  pasturage  there- 
about, and  I  can  drive  my  cows  along,  and 
herd  them  there  until  after  the  visit  of  our 

relatives.  My  sister  is  going  to  B with 

all  the  green-corn  that  the  ponies  can  carry, 
so  when  they  come  they  will  find  mother, 
and  very  little  else.  The  valley  in  which 
my  other  corn  is  planted  is  in  that  direction, 
and  perhaps  you  will  let  me  bring  some  of 
it  in  your  wagon  when  we  come  back  ?" 

Charles  Sumner  rode  cheerily  beside  them 
on  a  diminutive  pony,  driving  his  cows  and 
the  pack  pony,  and  chatting  freely  of  many 
things.  Sometimes  Jim  sprang  from  his 
seat  to  make  him  change  places  and  rest 
awhile.  The  pony  had  a  fascination  for  Jim, 
and  he  speedily  learned  from  Charles  Sum- 
ner how  to  manage  it,  and  to  "  round  up  " 
the  herd  of  cows  and  calves.  The  young- 
Indian  taught  him,  also,  how  to  make  arrows, 
and  to  shoot  with  them,  to  picket  the 
horses,  and  to  use  the  lasso,  to  make  camp 
coffee,  and  to  set  up  and  take  down  the  tepee, 
or  tent  of  buffalo  hide,  which  the  pack-pony 
dragged  between  long  poles. 

"  You  would  like  to  be  a  cow  -  boy, 
wouldn't  you,  Jim  ? "  Mr.  Armstrong-  asked, 
but  Charles  Sumner  shook  his  head.  "  Cow- 


THE  ESTATES  DEL  PARADISO.  339 

boys  are  no  good,"  he  said,  emphatically  ; 
"  they  shoot  Indians  as  if  they  were  wild 
beasts.  Better  stay  in  the  East,  where  the 
white  people  are  good.  I  wish  I  could,  but 
the  Government  insists  that  as  soon  as^we 
are  educated  w_  must  go  back  to  our 
reservations.  I  wish  it  would  let  us  stay 
and  earn  our  living  in  the  East,  where  it  is 
so  much  easier  to  stay  civilized." 

Jim,  on  the  other  hand,  was  delighted  with 
everything  he  saw.  "  If  all  the  boys  in 
Rickett's  Court  could  only  come  out  here  !  " 
he  exclaimed,  "  and  ride,  and  herd  cows, 
and  hunt,  and  camp  out,  and  all  the  Indian 
boys  could  only  go  East,  and  go  to  school, 
and  work  at  trades — how  nice  it  would  be  !  " 

Mr.  Armstrong  admitted  that  the  change 
might  be  good  for  both,  but  while  speaking 
they  came  in  sight  of  the  chimney-shaped 
pinnacle,  and  he  hastily  unpacked  his 
theodolite  and  other  instruments,  and 
began  to  take  angles,  and  to  jot  down 
memoranda. 

"  This  is  the  first  time  that  I  have  ever 
seen  a  surveyor  on  the  Ute  reservation,"  said 
Charles  Sumner,  "  and  I  think  that  our  troub- 
les will  be  ended  sometime  by  that  little 
machine.  Just  as  soon  as  the  Government 


340  WITCH  WINNIE. 

divides  up  our  land  and  gives  each  Indian 
his  own  share,  then  each  good  Indian  will 
cultivate  his  own  farm,  and  will  have  some 
heart  to  work.  How  can  he  now,  when  the 
land  belongs  as  much  to  every  lazy  Indian 
in  the  tribe  as  to  himself  ?  O  sir,  is  it  possi- 
ble that  the  Government  has  sent  you  to 
begin  this  division  ?" 

Mr.  Armstrong  confessed  that  his  obser- 
vations were  made  only  for  his  own  amuse- 
ment. He  was  surprised  to  find  that  the 
young  man  had  such  advanced  vie\vs  on  the 
"  land  in  severalty  "  question,  and  he  asked 
wrhether  any  of  the  other  Indians  of  the  tribe 
shared  his  opinions. 

"There  are  a  good  many  who  have  staked 
out  farms  and  are  cultivating  them,  just  as  I 
have,"  he  replied,  "  but  we  know  that  we 
have  no  right  to  the  land,  and  may  be  turned 
out  any  day,  whenever  bad  white  men 
persuade  our  chiefs  to  give  up  this  reserva- 
tion and  move  away  to  the  bad  lands  in  the 
West." 

Mr.  Armstrong  winced  a  little  under  the 
earnest,  questioning  look  with  which  Jim 
regarded  him.  To  turn  his  train  of  thought 
he  said,  "There  is  the  old  eagle's  nest  on  the 
ledge  still,  Charles  Sumner.  Can  you  climb 


THE  ESTA  TEX  DEL  PARADISO.  34  j 

up  there  to-day  as  nimbly   as  you  did  four 
years  ago  ?" 

For  answer,  the  young  man  threw  himself 
from  his  pony  and  began  to  ascend  the  cliff. 
It  was  very  steep,  but  he  chose  his  way  cau- 
tiously, Seizing  each  point  of  vantage  in 
the  way  of  a  crevice  or  projection.  He  had 
almost  reached  the  nest  when  he  paused, 
looked  away  to  the  southward,  and  began 
rapidly  to  descend.  "  There  is  a  band  of 
Utes  coming  over  the  divide,"  he  said;  "  I 
think  it  would  be  as  well  for  us  to  go  a  little 
further  up  the  valley."  He  hurriedly  col- 
lected his  herd,  and  drove  them  before  him 
through  a  pass  into  a  long,  shady  gorge. 
Mr.  Armstrong  followed  with  the  team. 
"  This  is  the  place  !"  he  exclaimed,  excitedly, 
as  they  entered  the  ravine.  "  It  was  in  this 
little  canon  that  I  found  the  silver.  A  vein 
cropped  right  out  to  the  surface,  and  I  filled 
my  pockets  with  the  ore.  I  set  up  a  buffalo 
skull  to  mark  the  spot.  There  it  is — at  the 
foot  of  that  pine.  It  must  have  rolled  down, 
for  I  placed  it  higher.  Hold  the  reins,  Jim, 
while  I  scramble  up  the  bank  and  see  if  I  see 
any  signs  of  the  vein."  With  the  agility  of 
a  younger  man,  Mr.  Armstrong  climbed  the 
steep  bank,  and  came  down  with  his  hands 


342  WITCH  WINNIE. 

filled  with  crumbled  ore.  "  It  is  there,  fast 
enough,"  he  said,  triumphantly;  "if  it  were 
not  on  the  Indian  reservation  I  would  be  the 
owner  of  that  mine  now.  They  cannot 
hold  the  lands  long,  and  when  they  are 
opened  to  settlement  this  canon  shall  be  ours, 
Jim.  You  say  you  would  like  to  live  a 
western  life.  If  your  mother,  of  whom  you 
seem  so  fond,  is  of  the  same  opinion,  you 
shall  pre-empt  a  claim  here,  and  I  will  take 
one  just  beside  you,  and  between  us  we  will 
own  the  mine.  You  don't  understand  it,  my 
boy;  but  I  have  taken  a  fancy  to  you,  and  I 
mean  to  make  your  fortune." 

"  And  will  this  ravine  be  my  very  own  ?" 
Jim  asked — "  mother's  and  mine  ?" 

"  Yes,  my  boy;  and  I  am  curious  to  see 
what  you  will  make  of  it,  and  what  you 
will  make  of  yourself  while  you  are  waiting 
to  come  into  your  possessions.  I  mean  to 
put  you  in  the  way  of  getting  a  good  prac- 
tical education,  which  shall  be  of  use  to  you 
out  here." 

"And  can  I  learn  surveying?" 

"Yes  ;  and  mining  engineering  and  assay- 
ing and  mechanics,  and  all  that." 

"That  is  what  Lovey  Dimple  would  like 
to  learn  too.  Can  he  come  with  me  ?  He'd 


THE  ESTATES  DEL  PARADISO.  343 

invent  a  machine  right  off  to  dig  the  silver 
just  as  easy." 

"  We  will  see,  Jim.  I  would  like  to  give 
him  a  good  turn  for  his  father's  sake  ;  but 
don't  take  too  many  into  our  company,  or 
we  shall  have  to  water  the  stock  too  freely." 

They  had  nearly  reached  the  head  of  the 
gorge,  and  they  found  that  Charles  Sumner 
had  paused,  and  had  corraled  his  cows  in  a 
little  natural  amphitheatre,  where  they  were 
resting  contentedly. 

"  I  must  watch  them  pretty  sharply,"  the 
Indian  explained,  "  for  the  corn  I  told  you 
about  is  in  the  next  valley,  and  if  they  should 
get  into  that,  they  would  be  as  bad  as  our 
relations.  Just  walk  to  the  top  of  the  hill, 
Mr.  Armstrong,  and  see  what  a  nice  field  of 
it  I  have  over  there."  Mr.  Armstrong  re- 
turned bringing  an  armful  of  fine  roasting 
ears,  but  Charles  Sumner  thought  it  best  not 
to  build  a  fire  until  the  party  of  Utes  had 
passed,  and  they  sat  down  to  a  cold  supper 
of  canned  baked  beans.  After  supper  Jim 
had  a  long  talk  with  Charles  Sumner,  and 
ascertained  that  the  young  man  had  fixed 
his  heart  upon  making  this  particular  section 
his  home  farm  as  soon  as  the  reservation 
should  be  divided  in  severalty  among  the 


344 


WITCH  WINNIE. 


Indians,  which  he  hoped  would  happen  be- 
fore many  years. 

"Then,"  said  Jim,  "you  think  that  the 
white  people  will  never  have  a  chance  to 
come  in  here  and  take  up  land  ?" 

"  Do  you  think  they  ought  to  be  allowed 
to  do  so,  when  the  land  is  ours  ? "  Charles 
Sumner  asked. 

"  No,  I  don't,"  Jim  replied,  promptly.  "  I 
think  it  is  really  yours,  and  you  ought  to 
keep  it ;  and  I'll  just  tell  you  a  secret  about 
this  canon.  It  is  worth  a  great  deal  more 
than  you  know.  There  is  a  silver  mine  in  it, 
and  I'll  show  you  where,  and  you  had  just 
better  go  back  East  and  study  the  best  way 
to  mine  silver,  and  then  when  you  get  your 
claim  you  will  know  how  to  work  it.  I 
wish  you  would  take  me  in  as  your  partner, 
for  Mr.  Armstrong  is  going  to  have  me 
taught  all  about  mining.  He  thought  he 
might  pre-empt  this  mine  for  me,  but,  of 
course,  when  he  sees  that  it  really  belongs  to 
you,  he  will  not  want  to,  unless,  perhaps,  you 
would  like  to  sell  out  your  right  in  it." 

Jim  had  spoken  so  rapidly  that  he  did  not 
notice  that  Mr.  Armstrong  had  approached, 
and  was  listening  with  an  astonished  expres- 
sion to  what  he  was  saying. 


THE  ESTATES  DEL  PARADISO.  345 

"  Jim,  are  you  crazy  ?"  Mr.  Armstrong  ex- 
claimed, as  soon  as  he  could  recover  himself. 
Don't  you  see  that  you  are  throwing  away 
your  chances  ?" 

"Oh  no,"  Jim  replied,  with  a  smile,  "I 
hadn't  any  chance  at  all.  You  didn't  know, 
but  it  all  belongs  to  Charles  Sumner." 

Their  conversation  was  interrupted  by  a 
whoop  in  the  valley  below.  The  band  of 
Utes  had  discovered  the  traces  of  their  last 
camp,  and  had  followed  their  trail  into  the 
canon. 

"  Drive  over  into  the  next  ravine  !"  said 
Charles  Sumner  ;  "  they  will  camp  here  when 
they  find  my  cows.  Walt  for  me  just  below 
the  corn-field,  and  I  will  join  you  as  soon  as 
I  can.  They  will  not  hurt  you  if  they 
find  you,  but  they  will  beg  and  steal 
everything." 

Mr.  Armstrong  hurriedly  followed  Charles 
Sumner's  advice,  and  was  joined  about  mid- 
night by  the  young  Indian,  who  drove  be- 
fore him  three  cows,  all  he  had  been  able  to 
rescue  from  a  herd  of  twelve. 

The  young  man  wiped  his  brow  with  a 
despairing  gesture.  "They  were  ugly,"  he 
said.  "  Some  Durango  cow-boys  have  been 
pasturing  their  cattle  on  the  reservation,  and 


346  WITCH  WINNIE. 

they  insisted  that  my  cows  were  a  part  of 
the  herd,  and  that  the  owners  were  some- 
where near.  If  they  had  found  you,  they 
might  have  treated  you  roughly.  I  think  we 
had  better  get  away  while  they  are  feasting." 

It  occurred  to  Mr.  Armstrong  that  it 
looked  very  much  as  if  Charles  Sumner  had 
saved  their  lives  at  the  sacrifice  of  his  prop- 
erty, and  a  feeling  of  gratitude  and  liking 
sprang  up  in  his  heart  for  the  young  man. 

"  I  don't  know  what  I  shall  do,"  the  Indian 
continued,  dejectedly.  "  It  doesn't  seem  to 
be  any  use  to  try  to  be  civilized  in  this 
country." 

"  No,  my  poor  fellow  !"  replied  Mr  Arm- 
strong, "  it  really  does  not.  In  your  place,  I 
think  I  should  go  back  to  the  blanket  and  be 
a  savage  with  the  rest.  I  will  tell  you  what 
to  do  :  come  East  again  with  your  mother 
and  sister.  I  will  let  you  try  farming  on  a 
piece  of  land  which  I  have  taken  a  fancy  to 
in  Massachusetts,  where  you  will  not  have 
these  discouragements.  When  the  land 
question  is  settled,  you  and  Jim  shall  come 
back  here  and  form  a  partnership.  If  it 
is  divided  in  severalty  to  the  Utes,  then  I  will 
establish  your  right  to  the  canon,  and  you 
shall  take  Jim  in  as  your  partner;  and  if  it  is 


THE  ESTATES  DEL  PARADISO.  347 

opened  to  the  whites  for  settlement,  he 
will  take  up  the  land  and  give  you  a  share 
in  it." 

This  proposition  was  accepted  by  Charles 
Sumner  and  his  sister,  the  mother  preferring 
to  remain  with  her  husband.  After  estab- 
lishing the  young  Indians  in  Massachusetts, 
Mr.  Armstrong  brought  Jim  with  him  to 
Narragansett  Pier. 

A  short  space  must  now  be  given  to  Milly 
and  Adelaide,  who,  though  mingling  in 
a  very  different  class  of  society,  had  an  ex- 
perience that  summer  not  unlike  our  own. 
Mrs.  Roseveldt  gave  a  lawn-party  at  the 
beginning  of  the  season  to  organize  -a 
tennis  club.  Tennis  was  the  rage  that  sea- 
son. Many  of  the  cottages  had  tennis 
courts,  and  the  different  players  wished  to 
plan  for  a  grand  tournament  at  the  end  of 
the  season.  A  pretty  uniform  was  designed 
of  white  flannel,  the  skirt  embroidered  with  a 
deep  Greek  fret  in  gold  thread,  and  laid  in 
accordion  pleats.  A  little  jacket  lined  with 
gold-colored  silk,  and  embroidered  in  the 
same  pattern,  was  to  be  worn  over  the  shirt 
waist,  and  a  gold-colored  sash  ending  in  a 
tassel,  with  a  white  Tarn  o'  Shanter,  com- 
pleted the  costume.  Milly  had  planned  that 


348  WITCH  WINNIE. 

Mrs.  Halsey  should    have    the    making    of 
these  costumes  while  at  the  Pier. 

A  fund  was  contributed  with  which  to 
purchase  a  trophy  for  the  prize  player.  It 
rose  quickly  to  a  hundred  and  fifty  dollars, 
and  a  meeting  was  held  to  decide  what  the 
trophy  should  be.  Most  of  the  members 
thought  that  a  gold  pin  in  the  shape  of  a 
racket,  with  a  pearl  ball,  manufactured  by 
Tiffany,  would  be  the  correct  thing,  and  this 
idea  would  certainly  have  been  adopted  if 
Milly  had  not  turned  the  current  by  a  neat 
little  speech. 

"I  am  sure,"  she  said,  "that  we  do  not 
want  to  vulgarize  our  club  by  making  it  pro- 
fessional, and  a  prize  of  any  great  money 
value  would  certainly  do  this.  So  I  move  that 
the  prize  be  a  simple  wreath  of  laurel  tied 
with  a  white  ribbon,  on  which  the  date  of  the 
tournament  and  name  of  the  club  be  printed." 
The  members  all  agreed  that  this  would 
be  in  better  form,  but  asked  what  was  to  be 
done  with  the  money  already  contributed. 
Then  Milly  rose  to  the  occasion,  and  flung 
out  the  banner  of  the  Home.  ' 

"  It  seems  as  if  we  had  no  right  to  be  romp- 
ing in  this  delicious  fresh  air  while  poor  chil- 
dren are  gasping  in  the  vile  smells  of  the  city." 


THE  ESTATES  DEL  PARADISO. 


549 


The  Fresh- Air  Fund  and  the  Working  Girls' 
Vacation  Society  were  both  popular  charities, 
and  were  proposed  by  different  members  as 
proper  recipients  of  our  funds.  Milly  was 
ready  to  agree  to  this,  but  one  young  man, 
supposed  until  that  day  to  be  a  mere  gilded 
youth,  without  an  idea  above  his  neckties, 
suggested  that  it  was  always  pleasanter  to 
be  the  distributer  of  one's  own  benefits,  and 
moved  that  the  club  get  up  a  little  Fresh- Air 
Fund  of  its  own.  "  We  might  rent  a  cottage 
down  here  and  send  for  a  dozen  or  so  young 
beggars,  and  take  turns  in  caring  for  them." 

A  general  laugh  followed  this  remark. 
"What  would  you  do,  personally,  Mr.  Van 
Silver  ?  "  asked  one  of  the  girls. 

<(  I  would  put  my  coach  and  four-in-hand 
at  the  service  of  the  enterprise,"  he  said, 
"  and  make  myself  expressman  and  'bus 
driver.  I'd  take  the  children  out  to  drive 
every  day,  for  one  thing." 

Everyone  insisted  that  they  would  like  to 
see  him  do  it,  but  he  persisted  until  they 
were  convinced  of  his  sincerity.  Mr.  Van 
Silver's  patronage  had  given  an  aristocratic 
stamp  to  the  enterprise,  and  some  one  now 
proposed  that  they  rent  a  cottage  for  the 
children  for  the  season. 


35O  WITCH  WINNIE. 

Milly  then  explained  that  Adelaide  had 
already  fitted  up  her  cottage  for  the  purpose, 
and  was  expecting-  an  invoice  of  children  by 
the  next  day.  Adelaide  invited  the  party  to 
visit  the  cottage  that  afternoon,  and  the  entire 
club  climbed  to  the  top  and  interior  of  Mr. 
Van  Silver's  coach;  Mr.  Stacy  Fitz-Sim- 
mons,  the  whilom  drum-major  of  the  Cadet 
band,  blowing  the  coach  horn  for  all  he  was 
worth. 

They  found  a  park  overgrown  into  a 
forest,  in  the  depth  of  which  stood  a 
pleasant  cottage,  with  broad  verandas,  which 
once  commanded  a  beautiful  view  of  the 
glistening  bay,  with  Newport  in  the  dis- 
tance. 

"  I  intend  to  have  some  of  these  trees  cut 
away,  so  as  to  leave  a  vista  through  to  the 
water,"  Adelaide  explained. 

They  entered  the  house,  and  found  it 
renovated  from  the  mold  and  decay  with 
which  ten  years  had  encumbered  it,  sweet 
and  fresh  with  new  paint,  and  papering  of 
pretty  design.  Light  and  graceful  ratan 
furniture  and  chintz  hangings  added  to  the 
beauty  of  the  room,  simple  straw  mattings 
covered  the  floor.  It  was  as  lovely  a  home 
as  heart  could  wish. 


THE  ESTA  TES  DEL  PARADISO. 


351 


"  I  have  done  all  I  can  afford,"  Adelaide 
said,  simply,  "  and  if  the  club  would  like  to 
use  this  cottage  for  their  city  children  it  is 
at  their  service,  but  first  Milly  wants  to 
entertain  the  younger  children  of  the  Home 
of  the  Elder  Brother  here  for  a  couple  of 
weeks." 

"  And  we  will  each  of  us  take  his  or  her 
turn  for  a  week,"  said  Mr.  Van  Silver;  and  so 
the  "  Paradise  Seaside  Home"  was  provided 
for. 

Mrs.  Halsey  came  with  the  children. 
From  the  moment  that  she  left  the  station 
she  seemed  to  be  in  a  dream. 

"  It  all  looks  so  familiar !"  she  exclaimed  ; 
"  I  am  sure  I  have  been  here  before !  There 
is  something  caressing  in  the  feeling  of  the 
damp  air,  as  though  it  kissed  my  cheek 
like  an  old  friend.  And  the  scent  of  the 
salt-water !  I  remember  it  so  well  ;  and 
shall  we  hear  the  surf  ?  Oh,  when  was 
it,  where  was  it,  that  I  knew  it  all  ? " 

When  they  drove  into  the  grounds  she 
shook  her  head.  "  No,  it  was  not  this 
place,"  she  said,  with  a  wistful  look  in  her 
eyes;  "  there  were  no  trees."  But  at  the  first 
glimpse  of  the  house  a  trembling  seized  her, 
and  she  could  hardly  mount  the  steps. 


352  WITCH  WINNIE. 

Within  doors  a  puzzled  expression  came  into 
her  face. 

"  It  is  familiar,  yet  unfamiliar,"  she  said. 
"  I  cannot  be  sure.  If  I  could  only  see 
some  face  that  I  had  known  before,  then  I 
could  tell." 

"  Perhaps  the  face  will  come,"  Adelaide 
said;  and  it  came. 

A  few  weeks  later  Mr.  Armstrong  re- 
turned with  Jim  from  the  western  trip,  and 
came  down  to  the  Pier  to  make  the  visit 
which  his  daughter  so  greatly  desired.  Ade- 
laide had  driven  to  the  station  f  r  them  in 
Milly's  pony  carriage,  Jim  mounted  to  his 
old  place  on  the  rumble,  Mr.  Armstrong 
settled  himself  for  the  drive,  and  Adelaide 
took  the  reins. 

"  I  am  going  to  take  you  around  by  the 
cottage,  papa,"  she  said.  "  I  want  to  show 
you  what  I  have  done  there,  and  how  happy 
the  Home  children  are." 

Mr.  Armstrong  drew  himself  up,  as 
though  wincing  from  some  sudden  pain.  "  I 
did  not  intend  to  go  there  again,  daughter," 
he  said  ;  "  I  shall  miss  a  face  at  the  window." 

"I  know,  papa — the  cameo;  but  she  would 
have  been  glad  to  see  the  cottage  used  as 
it  is." 


THE  ESTATES  DEL  PARADfSO. 


353 


They  turned  into  the  drive,  and  Mr.  Arm- 
strong nerved  himself  for  the  sight  of  his 
old  home.  Suddenly  he  cried  out,  and 
caught  his  daughter's  arm.  "Is  it  only 
memory,  or  have  I  lost  my  senses  ?  The  face 
is  there  ! " 

Adelaide  laughed  reassuringly.  "  I  don't 
wonder  that  it  gave  you  a  turn,  papa  ;  it  did 
me,  too,  when  I  saw  the  same  sight  in  Miss 
Prillwitz's  window  last  winter,  but  it  is  only 
dear  Mrs.  Halsey  looking  out  for  us.'* 

"  Then  thank  God  !  " .  exclaimed  Mr.  Arm- 
strong, leaping  from  the  vehicle  and  hurry- 
ing forward.  "  Do  you  not  remember  me  ? 
my  own  ! — my  wife  !  " 

His  wife  remembered:  the  veil  which  had 
blinded  her  for  years  fell  at  the  sight  of  her 
husband's  face. 

Happily  the  shock  had  not  been  as  sud- 
den as  it  seemed;  during  the  time  which  she 
had  spent  in  the  cottage  the  conviction  had 
grown  upon  her  that  this  had  been  her 
home.  She  had  asked  Adelaide  its  history, 
and  learning  that  it  had  been  built  for  her 
mother,  who  had  been  drowned  in  the  great 
steamboat  disaster,  a  hope  had  sprung  up  in 
her  heart,  which  she  dared  not  express  to 
any  one,  that  she  had  found  her  own  again. 
23 


354 


WITCH  WINNIE. 


Adelaide  had  said  that  she  expected  her 
father,  and  Mrs.  Halsey  waited  only  to  see 
his  face  to  be  assured  of  the  truth. 

Adelaide's  delight  at  finding  that  Mrs. 
Halsey  was  her  lost  mother,  and  Jim  her 
brother,  was  genuine  and  intense.  "  I  knew, 
all  the  time,  that  Jim  was  somebody's  child," 
she  exclaimed,  incoherently.  "  It  is  all  too 
good  to  be  true  !  too  good  to  be  true  !" 

"  Jim  deserves  a  better  father  than  he  has 
found,"  said  Mr.  Armstrong,  "  and  by  Jod's 
grace  he  shall  have  a  better. 

"  It  is  too  bad  to  break  up  this  nice  little 
arrangement  of  a  summer  home  for  the  poor 
children,"  he  added,  "and  I  will  allow 
the  cottage  to  be  used  for  this  purpose 
just  so  long  as  the  tennis  club  desire  to 
maintain  it  ;  but  I  must  have  my  wife.  Please 
remember  that  we  have  been  parted  from 
each  other  a  very  long  time.  I  am  going 
West  next  week,  and  I  must  take  her  with 
me;  and  it.will  not  do  Adelaide  any  harm  to 
have  a  glimpse  of  the  great  West  before  we 
send  her  to  school  in  the  fall.  Jim  has  had 
as  much  of  the  West  as  he  can  stand  at  pres- 
ent, and  we  will  leave  him  in  the  best  school 
that  we  can  find." 

what  shall  we  do  for  a  housekeeper 


THE  ESTA  TES  DEL  PARADISO. 


355 


for  the  cottage  ?  "  Adelaide  asked,  in  dismay. 

"  Mrs.  Trimble  has  just  left  the  hospital, 
fully  recovered,  but  I  have  no  doubt  she 
would  prefer  to  run  your  little  enterprise 
rather  than  to  return  to  the  store ;  and  as  I 
have  deprived  you  of  your  housekeeper  I 
don't  mind  paying  Mrs.  Trimble  to  supply 
her  place  for  the  remainder  of  the  summer. 
It  will  do  Mr.  Trimble  good,  too,  to  complete 
his  convalescence  here,  and  perhaps  in  the 
winter  they  will  accept  the  janitorship  of 
your  tenement." 

"  My  tenement ! "  Adelaide  replied,  in  sur- 
prise. 

"  Yes,  I  intend  to  give  you  the  manage- 
ment of  this  property,  which  I  have  always 
considered  your  own.  You  have  a  matter  of 
twenty  thousand  dollars  insurance  money, 
which,  with  the  ten  thousand  which  I  have 
deposited  to  your  name  in  the  savings  bank, 
you  may  use  in  erecting  a  model  tenement 
on  the  site  of  the  old  Rickett's  Court  building. 
I  think  I  shall  have  some  more  money  for 
you  to  put  into  the  enterprise  if  the  patent 
works  well.  I  shall  give  Mr.  Trimble  a  share 
in  the  profits  of  that  invention  over  and  above 
the  five  thousand  dollars  already  paid  him, 
but  I  think  that  he  would  like  one  of  your 


356  WITCH  WINNIE. 

suites  of  rooms  in  return  for  acting  as  janitor 
and  agent  of  the  building,  and  it  will  not 
interfere  with  his  teaching  mechanics  to  the 
boys  at  the  Home." 

"  If  you  please,  papa,"  said  Adelaide,  "  I 
like  the  plan  of  engaging  Mr.  Trimble  as 
janitor,  but  I  would  rather  be  my  own  agent 
and  collect  the  rents  myself;  then  I  can  see 
just  what  improvements  are  needed,  and  be 
sure  that  my  tenants  are  all  comfortable." 

For  the  remainder  of  their  stay  in  the 
East  the  Armstrongs  busied  themselves 
with  architects'  plans  and  specifications. 
Adelaide  enjoyed  planning  the  bathrooms 
and  conveniences  of  different  kinds.  "  And 
the  paving-stones  must  be  taken  up  in  the 
court,"  she  said,  "  and  a  nice  grass-plot  laid 
out  in  their  place,  and  we  will  have  pretty 
iron  balconies  before  every  window,  and  a 
fire-escape." 

"Yes,  daughter,"  replied  her  father,  "  I  will 
make  you  a  present  of  that,  outside  the 
other  matters — the  very  best  kind  of  fire- 
escape  to  be  found  in  the  city;  and,  while  we 
are  about  it,  I  will  send  one  to  the  Home  of 
the  Elder  Brother." 

Adelaide's  interest  in  her  tenement  did 
not  wean  her  away  from  the  Home,  and 


THE  ESTA  TES  DEL  PARADISO. 


357 


I  have  since  observed  that  it  is  always  those 
who,  seemingly,  are  already  doing  as  much 
as  they  can  in  the  way  of  charity  who  are 
always  ready  to  lend  a  helping  hand  to  other 
enterprises,  and  that  it  is  the  earnest  workers 
of  little  means,  as  well  as  the  wealthy  philan- 
thropists, who 

"  To  the  ages 
Fair  bequests,  and  costly,  make." 

The  Armstrongs  went  West,  and  Adelaide 
created  an  interest  for  the  Home  in  her  new 
surroundings,  while  Milly  kept  up  the  en- 
thusiasm of  the  tennis  club  at  the  Pier.  That 
club  flourished  in  a  manner  unheard  of,  here- 
tofore, in  a  place  where  everyone  was  so 
busy  doing  nothing  that  even  the  exertion 
of  tennis  had  been  voted  a  bore.  It  was  not 
tennis,  however,  that  kept  them  together,  or 
gave  the  members  their  bright,  jolly  looks, 
but  the  Paradise  Cottage. 

"  For  we  may  find  a  zest 

In  any  true  employ 
Which,  like  a  whetstone  in  the  breast, 
Shall  give  an  edge  to  joy." 

But  while  we  all  worked  in  our  different 
ways,  it  was  our  corresponding  secretary 
who  was  the  clasp  to  the  necklace,  or  rather, 


358  WITCH  WINNIE. 

the  central  battery  which  sent  currents  of 
life  pulsating  through  the  connecting  wires. 
The  scapegrace  who  plotted  and  schemed 
mischief,  she  who  had  erstwhile  reveled  in 
the  name  of  "  the  malicious,  seditious,  insub- 
ordinate, disreputable,  skeptical  Queen  of 
the  Hornets,"  had  become  a  wise  and  enter- 
prising central  manager  of  a  helpful  charity. 

The  summer  vacation  is  over,  and  we  have 
all  met  again  for  another  winter  at  Madame's; 
Amen  Corner  and  Hornets  all  filled  with  a 
fine  enthusiasm  for  our  work,  and  a  deep, 
true  affection  for  one  another. 

The  Home  rests,  we  are  told,  on  very  slen- 
der foundations.  There  is  no  financier  as  a 
backer,  no  estate,  no  great  endowment, 
nothing  to  ensure  its  existence  from  year  to 
year  but  the  hearts  and  hands  of  ten  young 
girls.  Nothing  else  ?  They  forget  that  we 
have  behind  us  and  with  us  the  Elder 
Brother,  with  all  the  estates  del  Paradise. 

"  By  each  saving  word  unspoken, 
By  Thy  will,  yet  poorly  done, 

Hear  us,  hear  us, 
Thou  Almighty  !  help  us  on." 

THE    END. 


A    000051  182    4 


